The PokéWorld Trials Book I: Leaf's Conquest
by BlueLeDinah02
Summary: Leaf is an aspiring Ace Trainer and a contender for the Pokemon championship. With the help of her trusty starter Flora, her older brother Ash and her long-time BFF Gary, she sets out on a journey through Kanto to achieve her dreams. Well. At least she tries to.
1. Chapter 1

**Hey readers! Please tell me what you think once you're done reading this! Read on! This is my first story, by the way, so quite a lot of creative juices are flowing.**

White. That was the first thing she saw. Bright, pure white, with some duller white in the background. Was she dead? Fat chance. That was simply her light bulb with the aged ceiling in the background.

"If I was dead, though…" she trailed off, deciding mentally that she would murder her soul for deciding to die on this day of all days.

Now, our fourteen-year-old heroine was chipper than she usually was, so instead of her usual stoic expression, making its way onto her smooth face was a content smile.

She tried to remember why she was so happy, anyways. There was something going on today, something huge… then it clicked.

"OH EM GEEE! OMG, OMG, OMG, OMG!" Leaf screamed, scrambling out of her warm bed and then proceeding to cartwheel around the room. Her hormones were especially active today. Not that they weren't already over-excited, Leaf thought, staring down at her body, very like that of an eighteen year old. Why did she have to hit puberty so early…

That thought was pushed to the back of her mind as another one took over.

"I'M GETTING MY POKEMON TODAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYY!"

Taking half the time she usually did to do her morning activities, Leaf brushed her teeth, showered, and dried and brushed her waist-length chocolate hair. She couldn't wait to finally get out of this house.

Rushing out of the bathroom in a towel only, Leaf threw open her closet, trying to decide what to wear. She pored over her clothes for about ten minutes, then snapped her fingers in inspiration, grabbing the selected clothes and rushing back into her bathroom.

A few minutes later, Leaf walked out wearing a fitted blue tank top, a red pleated skirt reaching mid-thigh, blue leg warmers, red sneakers, her trusty black wristbands and to top it all off, her signature white hat with a red line around it and a PokéBall at the front.

"Not bad!" Leaf grinned at her reflection. That grin soon fell as she realized she was forgetting something very important. She scanned the room until her eyes rested on their victim. Snatching up her brown waist bag, she remembered once more what she had to do, her lips stretching once more, not into a grin, but an evil smirk.

 **ASH's POV**

My smile increased, letting my tongue hang out as the huge thanksgiving chicken made its way over to me…

Almost there…

 _ **BANG! BANG! BANG!**_

I let out a hiss as the lights of my room were suddenly flicked on, and very bright lights, may I add. The banging continued, if not getting louder, as was the voice in my head begging me to unleash Pikachu on the intruder.

All in all, my mood was not what you'd call pleasant.

I cracked open my right eyelid to get a look at the infiltrator. All I caught was a glimpse of long brown hair and a white hat…

"LEAF! I _WILL_ murder you!"

"Hah! I'd like to see you try!" was her retort as she jumped onto the bed. Err, not onto the bed… onto me. I shoved her away as hard as I could.

"OOF!" she grunted, only to spring back up onto me. "ASH! Get up get up get up get up get up get up get _up_!"

"Okay, what is so special that you had to wake me up at…" I checked the clock, "6 freaking AM!"

"Don't you remember, Reddie?" pouted Leaf.

"Obviously I don't. And I told you to not call me that."

She glared. And glared.

And GLARED.

"Ash, how could you forget today?" she whispered, her glare suddenly turning into a heartbroken expression.

Damn, I've made her sad! Good going, Reddie.

…Wait, what?!

"I haven't forgotten! I, uh, seem to have a blurry memory when I'm woken up with a frying pan…?" I sheepishly tried to explain.

"…okay." She sniffled. "Well, I'm so happy because I'm getting my Pokemon today!" she squealed, her expression yet again morphing into a grin.

"OH…right! Of course I knew!" I lied through my teeth. Leaf would see right through me.

But I must have been opaque because she just rolled off me and smiled deviously. "Great. Buckle up, big brother, there's still one more person we have to wake, with ESPECIALLY spiky hair…"

I shared her evil smirk as realization crawled upon me.

We both laughed evilly and said the name together.

"Gary."

 **GARY's POV**

I turned on the tap and the toothpaste flowed down the drain, then proceeded to look myself in the mirror.

"Damn, I look like crap."

Spiky golden blonde hair protruded at awkward angles. Medium brown eyes, now red all around, were caked at the corners. A few wrinkles even dared to crawl onto my otherwise attractive face.

At least my mouth smelled fresh.

Why do I arise at such an early hour, you interrogate. Well, I was basically shocked out of bed – first being drenched by ice water and then having a specific raven-haired idiot unleash a specific electric type on me – and then roughly shoved into my bathroom by his hyperactive sister, who by the way is getting her starter today. And why would waking up at eight in the morning be such a terrible thing? Perhaps because I spent all night partying and flirting with hot chicks and then stumbling home, at five this morning, with lipstick marks on my collar.

So, yes, that's the reason for my current state.

I quickly had a shower, because if I didn't Leaf would do it for me. I put on my clothes, and not a moment too soon, because right as I finished brushing my hair, the door was crashed open.

Hold on… didn't I lock it?!

"GARY! Come on, you're wasting time! I want to get the cutest Pokémon there!" Leaf yelled.

Gosh, Leaf was so excited. When she was like this, absolutely no one could calm her down. She grabbed my arm – a rather toned, muscular one, ha-ha – and dragged me out of my neat room and down the stairs, yelling out a greeting to my mother who was still making breakfast.

"Hi, Leaf. Are you going to be staying with Gary for breakf—"

"NO, THANK YOU!" Leaf yelled, pushing me out the door and slamming it behind her.

Ash was waiting for us outside. "Gosh, what took you guys so long? I almost figured you guys decided to take a break and fu—OW!"

Leaf, who had thought her brother was wasting time, had started to drag him by the ear. HA-HA! Although her face was very red. Hm.

"Uh, Leaf? Why's your face so re—"

"GARY! Shut up and let's get a move on!" Leaf yelled.

Oh well. At least I tried.

Leaf led the way to grandpa's lab. She pushed the door open, and over a desk with three PokéBalls, my grandfather stood waiting.

"Ah, Leaf! I was waiting to see when you would arrive. I can tell you're very excited?" Leaf nodded eagerly. "Good! So now I'm going to release the Pokémon and you can have your pick. What say you?"

"Great! Let's get started," Leaf squealed.

I already knew all the Pokémon that would appear, because I had gotten my own Pokémon a year earlier, with Ash. We'd both finished our journeys around the same time, and I beat the Elite Four and became champion for a short time. That is, until Ash came about an hour later and barely won me, then became champion himself. To compensate my hard work, he offered to me the post of Viridian City Gym Leader, which I gladly accepted. But Leaf doesn't know this, and since then, the number of people entering the Indigo League reduced drastically, because I am crazy tough, if I may say so myself. My Pokémon are currently at a range of level 67-71, and Ash's are about level 69-72.

There was this girl that almost beat me though. Her name was Lora, I think? Or Layla? No… no, it was, um… Lyra! Yes! And later on a boy named Silver came and claimed to be her arch rival, and he and I were down to our last Pokémon until his fainted a split second before mine. A worthy challenger, he was.

Out of the first Poke Ball came a little green Pokémon, and its name tag read Bulbasaur. Next came a tiny blue turtle Pokémon, and I smiled at this one because it was my starter, a Squirtle. Lastly came a red lizard Pokémon, a Charmander, which immediately took a liking to Ash. He was familiar with it, because he had a Charizard.

Leaf's eyes widened when she saw Bulbasaur, and she started cooing and petting it.

"I choose this one, Professor Oak! Please!"

Grandpa chuckled quietly at Leaf's enthusiasm. "Of course."

Bulbasaur jumped into Leaf's arms, and she cuddled her happily. I felt funny seeing it, like warm sunlight was spreading throughout my whole body. Then I got an idea, I whispered something to gramps. He nodded. "I think it would be a good experience for her," he said. Alrighty then.

"Leaf, I challenge you to a Pokémon battle!"

Leaf looked at me, a cute smile spreading across her face. Wait… where the hell did that come from?! "Okay! You okay with this, Flora?" she asked Bulbasaur, who jumped in delight. Ash agreed to referee.

"This will be a one-on-one match between Leaf Green and Gary Oak of Pallet Town! The first Pokémon to drop to zero, loses! Ready, set, go!"

I sent out the Squirtle and Leaf set down Flora.

"First move's yours, Leaf."

"Thanks, Gary! Um… Tackle?"

Bulbasaur launched forward and hit Squirtle. Squirtle screamed, then retreated into its shell, its defense rising.

"Squirtle, get close with rapid spin and use water gun!"

Squirtle obeyed and span off in a blur toward Flora. He sprayed her with some water, but she just shook it off.

"Grr, Squirtle use pound!" He obeyed, making Flora dizzy.

"Oh no! Flora, snap out of it and use Tackle!" Poor Flora, who by now wasn't looking so good, only wound up hitting herself.

"Alright Squirtle, finish this with Rapid Spin!"

Squirtle obeyed and shot off towards Flora, who was still hitting herself. Then he slammed into her, sending her flying through the air and knocking her out.

"HA! Take that, Leafy!"

"Aww," Leaf sniffed, running to help her Pokemon. Gramps gently took Flora and healed her, and in no time Flora was bouncing around again.

"Now, Leaf, there is something I need you to do for me. In viridian City, a parcel should be waiting for you in the mart. I need you to retrieve it and bring it back here, if you would," Grandpa said.

"No problem. Bye Gary. C'mon, Ash," she sulked, pulling Ash out of the door.

"And I woke up so early…" I grumbled. Gramps laughed.

LEAF's POV

"Aww, Leaf! Cheer up! It's your first battle ever, obviously it's not a must to win," Ash said, trying to cheer me up.

"Ash, please stop trying to cheer me up. Who fails on their first try? I was supposed to be lucky."

"Everyone! And hey, everyone knows that Gary's a huge jerk. Say, let's go get an ice cream! You'll feel better."

"Ash… no."

"Oh come on little sis. You know you want to! Just think. All that thick, creamy chocolate in your eager mouth…"

"Hmm…"

"And maybe train your Pokemon while eating that lovely ice cream…"

"Chocolate," I hallucinated, giving in.

"And you can go for seconds! It's all on me."

"OH FINE! Let's go. But let's get Professor Oak's package first," I said, stepping into the PokeMart.

The racks were lined with all sorts of Pokemon merchandise. This would be a good place to come to shop for Flora. Full Restores, Antidotes, Ethers and Full heals were streamed along the shelves, ending on the young market clerk who was winking at me.

Unfortunately, Ash saw him. And grabbed his collar.

"What the hell are you staring at, punk?" He asked menacingly.

"Whoa, dude, I'm sorry! I didn't know she was your girl, you two look alike so I thought she was your sister," The maniac blabbed frantically.

"She is."

"Oh, really? So that means she's single? Then what's your name, sugar?" The clerk inquired, his fearful demeanor gone.

Ash growled and shoved him against the wall. I had to put my hand on his arm to calm him down, and even then he still glared at the clerk.

"Well, listen, uh…" I read his name tag, "…Mark, I'm not here to flirt. We're here to collect a package meant for Professor Oak, so…"

"Hold on. THE Professor Oak? What makes you think I'll release his property to one horny teenage slut and a guy on his period?"

Some punches later, I exited the mart with the parcel in my arms.

"You know, Ash, you didn't have to beat him up. He was just a jerk."

"He hit on you when we both know you belong to Gary. And he said I was on my period, and called you a slut-"

"Hold up. What did you say?" I demanded.

"NOTHING! Now let's get that ice cream!"

We got the ice cream and walked back in silence. When we reached the lab it was about noon, and Gary had left.

"Here's your parcel, Professor Oak," I said, handing it to him.

"Ah, thanks, Leaf. Gary bolted off. Went back home to sleep."

I rolled my eyes. Hard.

"But MOOOOOOMMMMM!" I whined. "Why can't I just go?"

"It's too late to leave the house, Leaf! You wouldn't even have reached Pewter by nightfall."

"What? I could just lodge in Viridian."

"Err..." Was she hiding something? I'll have to ask her later. "They say that Viridian City people like kidnapping kids."

"But I'm not a kid anymore. And we agreed that I would start my journey today."

"NO, we agreed that you would get your first Pokemon today, and you would start travelling once you turn fifteen."

"WHAT?! But that's so far away! I'll have to wait TWO WEEKS?" I couldn't believe this was happening.

"Yes, Leaf. Look, I know you were looking forward to leaving and becoming a cooltrainer-"

"ACE trainer," I corrected.

"Yes, an Ace Trainer, but this is not that serious, okay? All teenagers go through this."

I felt like ripping my hair out. "OMG, mom! You freaking think this is a BLOODY PHASE."

"Watch your tone. Now off to bed with you, young lady."

"But-"

"NOW, Leaf!"

"Mom..."

"You better move it! NOW! And your cousin Darcy is coming visiting tomorrow to give you an early birthday present, because he's going to be leaving the country for uni..."

The world froze. The crickets stopped chirping, the birds stopped singing. All that remained moving was Mom's mouth.

Ash stopped eating and looked at me with cautious eyes.

Only he knew.

*** _Flashback_ ***

"Leaf!" Darcy called from the guest room. "Could you please come help me look for something under my bed?" He was seventeen at the time.

This was my chance to escape! Maybe he wouldn't be able to do it today. "Find it yourself," eight-year-old me answered.

Unfortunately, Mom was in the hallway, and she heard me. "Leaf Midori Green! Go in there right now and help your cousin find what he's looking for!" She yelled.

I turned to stare at her, heartbroken tears filling my eyes. How could she? How could my own mother condemn me to my doom?

I would hate her forever for this.

Darcy came out and grabbed my arm. My skin started to crawl, both with disgust and with fear and knowing what would come next.

"You heard her, Flower," he said, dragging me into his room.

He closed the door and locked it behind him, then proceeded to slap me across my face. A strangled sob escaped my trembling lips as I fell on the mattress. Darcy clambered on top of me.

"So, Rose, you really thought you could escape from me?" A malicious laugh left his lips, making my blood curdle. "You are MINE. And you will never be able to stop me. I will always do this as long as you live, Leaf! Take care to remember that."

As he spoke, I noticed the key on the floor. I pushed Darcy off and ran for the key, grabbing it until Darcy pulled me by my neck. I bit down hard on his arm. This had gone on for too long, and I thought I could escape, but that was until I felt an excruciatingly painful senstion at the top of my head, and on my wrist. A warm wet liquid seeped through my long hair, from my wrist, and started to collect in a puddle on the floor.

"Try to escape and this will happen again. Only worse," He whispered in my ear. I looked up. He'd broken a beer bottle on my head. The last thing I saw before blacking out was Darcy going through the usual routine, taking off my clothes and ripping my underwear.

As he penetrated deeper and deeper, I blamed Mom for EVERYTHING.

***End of flashback***

Later that night, I lay sobbing in Ash's warm embrace while tracing the scar on my wrist.

"Ash, I HAVE to leave! I can't bear seeing him. What if he does it again?"

"Leaf, I wasn't old enough to protect you then. I'm so sorry, I wish I could have when you told me that night, but I swear if he touches you I'll rip him apart with my bare hands."

I looked up at my big brother with bloodshot eyes. I hadn't told him why I never told anyone. I think he assumed it was because no one would believe me anyway. Darcy was smart, nice and popular, so anyone I told would be skeptical. That wasn't it. Darcy had said something on the first day he raped me.

He threatened me with the death of my brother if I ever spilled to anyone.

So I kept shut. And it continued.

I was awakened by tapping at my window. Curious, I clambered out of bed and looked down to see Ash with some bags by his side.

"PSST! Leaf! Change and get down here quick!"

"Wha...?"

I showered, brushed my teeth and my hair, and checked the time. It read 12:47 a.m. I'd noticed that my makeup and clothes were packed (not that I even wore the makeup) as well as my shoes, bag and electronics. All that was with me were my PokeGear, personal belongings and Bulbasaur.

I tiptoed down the corridor, cringing at the sound my room door made, careful not to wake Mom up. Pushing open the front door and saw Ash with luggage packed and... Gary?

"Gary?! What are you doing here? Wait, what's going on?"

"Ash said you had to leave for an urgent reason, but he wouldn't tell me. Just get a move on, will you? My legs are killing me, Slowking."

I bit down on my lip while Ash slugged Gary in the stomach.

"Gary, listen. We've got to get Leaf out of here as soon as possible because something…um…tragic happened, OKAY? Come on."

We're leaving? This was amazing. So Darcy can't abuse me anymore. Cradling Bulbasaur in my arms, we sped off in Gary's car, onto a better future for me.


	2. Chapter 2

**Hello everyone! It's officially been two weeks of Haters Gonna Hate (sorry for not updating), so I'm posting up the second chapter. Here you go! Please review! And in case you're wondering about the ages of the main characters:**

 **Leaf – 14 going on 15**

 **Ash – 18**

 **Gary – 17**

 **Misty – 16**

DELIA's POV

RING! RING!

"Good morning! Good mooorning! We talked the whole night through…" My alarm clock sang.

I shut it off and peeled off the covers, then proceeded to sit on the bed, a small smile etched onto my face. I looked at the time. 7:45. I'd better wake Leaf and Ash.

Walking down the carpeted corridor, I reached Ash's room. Pushing open the door, something neatly folded on his bed caught my eye. Other than that, the room was empty. Hmmm. I opened the note.

 _Mom,_

 _Leaf wasn't feeling so good, so I've taken her to the hospital. We'll get back ASAP xoxoxxx - Ash_

I sighed. Now? Amelia and Darcy were going to be here in a few hours. Although If Leaf was sick, Ash had no other option. Those two were closer than two fingers intertwined.

Shaking my head, I headed downstairs to make breakfast.

LEAF's POV

The first thing that greeted me when I opened my eyes was, once again, white. Accompanied by a smell of cinnamon, I realized I wasn't in my room.

Panic shot through me. Had I been kidnapped?

Until my eyes landed on Gary crashed on the couch, in his traveling clothes, seemingly from yesterday. Haha, I remember when he started his journey about two years back with Ash, I was so jealous. But now they've both come so far. Ash is a Pokemon Master, arguably unbeatable, and Gary is… I don't know what position he is, but I do know he's strong, like almost Ash-level.

Wait. Traveling clothes?

Everything came rushing back to me. I ran away. _Shit._ Mom would most likely send the police after me, so we had to get moving. I'll just challenge the Viridian City Gym and be on my way.

But first…

*******5 minutes later*******

"AAAAAAAHHHHH!" Gary yelled, shivering wildly. "LEAF! The nerve! I'm FREEZING!"

I laughed cheekily. "This is the second time in 24 hours, Gary. I think we both know that I had the nerve a long time ago." I looked around the room. "Where's Ash?"

"Oh, he went to get some breakfast. We'll leave afterwards."

"'kay then. I'm gonna go get ready," I said, heading for the bathroom.

GARY's POV

What was happening to me? I was going crazy. I just enjoyed hearing Leaf laugh… more than I should have.

No, Gary. Get ahold of yourself; I couldn't possibly be…. Could I?

No, no. Besides, Ash was extremely protective of Leaf, and if I so much as made her frown, he'd have my head. I shook off the thought and popped a mint in my mouth, which smelt ten times worse than garbage. It would have to do, since Leaf was in there…

Speaking of which, Leaf abruptly exited the bathroom which, in this case, was murdering me. I pretended to watch television, but this was quite unconvincing, as it wasn't really on. Leaf got her clothes from her box and reentered the bathroom. Watching her go, I almost sighed in relief.

Almost. Heck, fate just decided to screw with me today.

And because fate decided to screw with me today, I went through the shock of watching Leaf's tiny towel fall off just before the door shut, giving me a peek of creamy skin. As I wondered what part of her body that skin belonged to, my face went redder than tomato soup with beetroot added. Leaf was my BFFL! Best Friend For Life! I couldn't be thinking of her this way!

"Hey, Gary. Why are you all red and… sweaty?"

"Hey, Ash. Perfect timing. Leaf's in the bathroom," I mumbled, hurrying out of the room and fist bumping Ash on the way.

"Hn. Wonder who pissed in his Froot Loops."

"What do you mean, _it's not open?_ "

"I'm sorry, miss. The Gym Leader has been absent for a few weeks.

We were standing outside the Gym of Viridian, and Leaf, having freshened up, wanted to challenge the Gym and be on her way, only to find out that it was closed for the time being.

Hmmmm, I wonder… where might the Gym Leader be? Oh, right here! I would've told Leaf, no prob, if she wasn't gonna explode. So, ha-ha… no.

The man we were speaking to was standing at the Gym door. He looked me up and down with confusion at first, then recognition. "Aren't you-?"

"-the amazing Professor Oak's grandson? Yes," I butted in.

"Right… but you're also -"

"—long time BFF of Pokemon Master and Champion of Kanto League, Ash Ketchum, which would be me," Ash butted in, helping me out. He knew too.

Poor guy. He went into shock, and I used the moment to drag Ash and Leaf away. I think I might have seen Leaf blush when I held her hand… No, it was just a trick of the light. It couldn't be. I shook the disappointment off and steeled my voice.

"On to Pewter City."

"Hey! Who made you the leader?" Leaf demanded.

I glared at her. "On to Pewter City."

"Right…"

We'd travelled all the way through Route 2, and in front of us was a small patch of grass leading to Pewter City. And right in front of that loomed the foreboding Viridian Forest.

I was at a loss for words.

"WELL, Oh Great Leader, what do we do now?" Leaf asked me. She chuckled darkly. "Come on, give us a command? Like fly over it, or go through it or -"

"You know, that's not such a bad idea, Leaf," I mused. "We could actually go through it…"

I smirked as Leaf's eyes widened.

"EW, EW, a THOUSAND TIMES EW!" Leaf screamed as a caterpie scuttled over her foot. "AAH!"

"For goodness' sake, Leaf! Be quiet, would you?" Ash said. "The last thing we need is some Arbok finding us and swallowing you up. That would give real meaning to the saying, 'You'll be the death of me', wouldn't it?" He smiled sweetly.

Leaf rolled her eyes, mumbled something and continued to trudge along.

We remained this way, with frequent squeals from Leaf. Heck, my ears were going to fall off at this rate! I checked my map; we had about 10 minutes before we could leave the forest. Hurrying up would be a good choice, because it was getting dark. It was already 6:53 pm. If we could reach Pewter by nightfall…

"So that's the plan. Got it, Butch? If we screw up this time, Giovanni will have our heads. This will show him that we're actually good for something… and we could finally outrank those hateful James and Jessie duo!"

What?

"Psst! Gary!" I turned to see Ash. "Those are two of the Team Rocket officials!"

"But I thought you shut them down two years ago! Did you LIE about that?!" I whispered back furiously.

"Dude, calm your balls. I did. But their crazy leader WAS rapping about reviving it when I went to challenge his Gym."

"And you didn't say anything?!"

"The guy had run away! No one would've found him!"

"Hey! You! Hand over your Pokemon immediately!" The guy said. I think his name was Batch. I've seen Cassidy before. They were yelling at a woman with familiar-looking dark blue hair.

"Yeah!" Cassidy agreed. "Prepare for trouble…"

"And make it double…"

Oh crap, not this trash again. Ash and I sat through this torture… wait. Why weren't we helping the lady? I silently grabbed Ninetales' Ball, and Ash chose Armaldo's. With my Pokemon being at level 68 and Ash's being at level 70, these creeps didn't stand a chance.

"CASSIDY!"

"BUTCH!"

"Ash… NOW!" I shouted. The Team Rockets were confused until they saw us and grinned evilly as we came out of the bushes.

"Well, Cassidy. Look what Meowth dragged in."

"Two puny teenagers with full PokéBalls. You look familiar, though…" she trailed off, pointing to Ash.

"Enough chit chat," Ash firmly said. "Leave this lady alone."

The woman, who was wearing a hat hiding her face, seemed to look at us with amused interest.

Cassidy cackled. "Why are we even wasting time with you?"

"Try again."

"Well, we'll just take you kids' Pokemon as well!" Biatch said. This was getting us nowhere, and I glanced at my watch. 7:12. The sun had set and the sky was a light opal colour.

Ash and I grabbed our pokeballs simultaneously.

"Oh you want to fight? Fine then let's humour you. We'll KO your Pokemon, take them with us, and be on our way," Cassidy purred, as she and Buck both released a Gloom each. I checked my Pokedex, level 42 each.

If we were just ordinary traveling teenagers, like Leaf, we'd be scared as hell because we'd be thrashed in no time, and we'd probably run at the first mention of a battle with their crazily trained Pokemon. But (and this is a big BUT), we're not just ordinary teenagers. Ash was the Champion of the Kanto and Johto League, a Pokemon Master, and I was the strongest Gym Leader in all of Kanto and Johto.

I smirked. If they wanted to play dirty, then dirty they would get.

"NINETALES!"

"ARMALDO!"

"TAKE OUT THESE LOSERS!" We released our respective Pokemon.

"Hmm. Not Bad. Giovanni will be even more impressed." Puck yawned. "Gloom, use Vine Whip!"

"Gloom, use Razor Leaf!"

Are you kidding me?

Wait. Cassidy said Leaf. What do they know about Leaf? What are they plotting against her?!

"NINETALES! USE FIREBLAST ON THEM BOTH!" Ninetales looked at me confused. I don't think he's ever seen me lose control like this. "Just do it!"

"Huh? Gary, what are you-"

Ninetales exhumed an intense blue flame from his mouth, roasting the leaves and vines heading towards us and knocking out the Gloom immediately, while also frying the Rockets' clothes and leaving them black.

"AAAAAAHHHH! We've been burned! You won't get away with this!" Putch shouted, returning his Gloom and running away with Cassidy following.

I stood there, still fuming. A hand fell on my shoulder.

"Gary, are you alright? You lost control there… why?" Ash asked me with concern in his eyes.

"It's nothing." I shrugged off his hand. I think he knew I was lying, but he just let me go.

Geez, losing my mind over a simple attack command…

The lady! Right.

"Um… excuse me, miss. Are you alright? Are your Pokemon hurt?"

"Gary, shut up. I was in no need of your help. You're too headstrong anyway; I could've handled it myself. And you, young man, need to learn how to control your romantic but overprotective feelings. You need to grow up," the woman finished.

I felt my face heat up. She knew? "What do you know anyway? Nothing! And a little 'thank you' would suffice…" I was cut off by laughter.

"Always the same, Gary."

Her cloak started to lift off by itself. I was thoroughly confused, until I saw the grinning face underneath the cloak.

Sabrina! Now the hair makes sense.

"OH! Sabrina! I was not expecting to see you!"

"Gary." She nodded to me, still smiling. "Ash." She nodded to him as well, then nudged his arm. "So, how's it going with you and Misty?"

Ash reddened. "Nothing! I don't like her. Why does everyone keep saying that?!" He defended.

Sabrina sighed. "It's so obvious to everyone, ESPECIALLY ME, that you have fallen quite hard for our dear water princess…"

Ash suddenly saddened, his eyes dulling his handsome face. "it's not like she'll ever like me the same way. She just sees me as someone important during all the Elites and Gym Leaders meetings…"

"Cheer up, Ash! I can assure you she doesn't just see you that way."

"Yeah. Even I can sense it."

She turned to me immediately. "Really? You can sense his, but can't sense your own?"

"What?"

"You have a huge crush on someone named Leaf!"

I glanced at Ash, who was staring at me with widened eyes. "SO it's true then? You like my little sis?" He clapped me on the back and noogied me hard. "MAN, you have GOT to make your move before someone else gets her!"

"Wait… you're okay with it?"

"Of course! Why not? I've ALWAYS wanted you two to just cut the crap and MAKE OUT already."

"When you put it THAT way…"

We were interrupted by a grunt.

"Sabrina? You okay?" Ash asked her.

"I am… but there is something I must tell you. It's VERY important." She looked terribly grave. "It's about Leaf."

"WHAT?" Ash exclaimed.

"Yes…" She paused. She turned to face us both, and looked at me. "I've never seen Leaf before, but when you mentioned her, I received an image of a pretty girl," oh, she's pretty all right, "with long brown hair and green eyes. Almond eyes for that matter, delicate hooked nose, and full lips? Is that what she looks like?" Ash and I exchanged glances and nodded. "…right. She's quite petite, too, but her body looks… errr… older than her supposed age. I assume she is about 14 or 15, correct?

"Yes. But if you've never seen her before, how do you know what she looks like?"

"How to explain this…" she mumbled. She scratched her head. "You see, when a new psychic is discovered, psychics all over the world receive data on him or her. Their looks, age, how strong he or she is – this one is REALLY strong – and other useful data. Liza and Tate in Hoenn received the signal, as did Karen in Johto and Caitlin in Unova."

"That's what you're saying?"

She nodded.

Ash looked awestruck. "So this means… that Leaf…"

"…is a psychic?" I finished.

"Yes. But she hasn't discovered it yet. When she will, is entirely up to her." She nodded at me.

I smiled. Then a horrifying realization hit me. "Hold on… where _is_ she?!"

LEAF's POV

Yes! Now that's Progress!

When Ash and Gary had jumped into the bushes, I slipped away and started training. If I wanted to beat the Pewter Gym Leader, I needed to train badly.

Flora was improving steadily. She was on level 11 and had learned Absorb and Vine Whip, and she was currently fighting a Pidgey at level 8. I'd been trying to capture a Pokemon, but to no avail.

"FLORA, use Absorb to heal yourself!" She absorbed some green bubbles from Pidgey. "Amazing! Now stand back!"

I threw the PokéBall, and it enclosed around the Pidgey. It shook three times before breaking open again, and the Pidgey hit Flora with a Gust. She cried out from the super effective attack, and my heart broke.

"Hang in there, Flora! Please, I'm gonna need you to move again!" She rolled to the side.

I hurled another PokéBall and it one again enclosed around the Pidgey.

One.

Two.

Three.

Wait for it…

Wait for it…

PING!

"YYYYEEEEESSSSSSSS! WoooooooHooooo!" I jumped in the air, and picked up Flora and whirled her around. She winced in pain. "Oh, right, I need to heal you…"

"LEAF!"

Oh no.

Ash was furiously marching toward me, with an equally furious Gary by his side. Behind them was an amused-looking woman.

Unfortunately for me, Ash reached me first and started to violently shake me by my shoulders.

"You little rascal! Do you realize how WORRIED we were about you?" He stopped shaking me and proceeded to look at Flora in shock, then back at me. "And look at your Pokemon! If she'd fainted, what would've happened to you?! What would even PROPEL you to do such an outrageous thing?!"

"Geez, Ash, calm down." I looked over at the woman, who was talking to a very angry Gary a few metres away.

"Yoo-hoo! Hi! What's your name?"

Gary, remembering that I existed, marched over to me and slung me over his shoulder.

"HEY! Put me down NOW. Where are you taking me?"

"To Pewter. Look at the time, Leaf! It's nighttime. It's too dangerous for you to be out at this time…"

"And it's not for you?"

"Leaf. He's right, so just shut it, will you, and let's be on our way." Ash glared, starting to march in the direction of our destination. We still have to cover the rest of Route 2, and that will take us another 30 minutes." He ran his hands through his hair. "Ugh, it's even too late for that! We'll have to camp here in the forest. It's not as dangerous as traveling at this time."

I felt like crying. "HERE?! What if a Weedle infects me, or a Vespiquen kills me with her stings? Can't we just run the rest of the distance?"

Gary set me down. "Look, _Leaf_ , I know you're angry about this, but it's the only possible solution."

"Or I could teleport you to Pewter." The lady said. That was the first time I'd heard her speak. She looked at me. Her eyes were a deep reddish-pink, almost crimson, and they seemed to know something about me that even I didn't know. They were accentuated by her odd hair, navy blue.

"I am… someone you'll meet in the future."

"Uh… is that near future or far future?"

"Only time will tell."

"Right." I shook my head. "I'm Leaf. So you're a psychic then?"

"No duh," Gary muttered. I glared at him and he glared back.

"I know. And yes, I am a psychic."

My eyes almost bulged out of their sockets. "That is SO COOL! I wish _I_ was a psychic."

"UM, we'd better get going," Ash interrupted suddenly, grabbing my arm. "Thanks for everything, Sabrina."

 _Sabrina?_

Suddenly everything around me seemed to distort into swirls and zigzags and all whatnots. "What's happening?" Only 'Sabrina' remained stable.

"I'm teleporting you." She looked at me once more. "Farewell, Leaf. We shall meet again."

A swirl of colors flashed before my eyes, and when I focused again, Ash, Gary and I were in a…city.

"This is Pewter?"

Streetlights stood tall, illuminating the brick pavements and tarred grey roads, or rather… pewter. Houses were neatly arranged next to each other. To my right was the Pokemon Center, with the squat blue PokeMart next to it, and to my left was a Pokemon Trainer's School. Something at the end of the street caught my eye, and a little sign next to it read 'Gym'.

"Ooh, ooh, there's the Gym!" I squealed, heading for it. Until I was dragged back by my shirt.

"No way, sis. It's too late for that; it's 10 pm already. And you're not nearly trained enough. When I challenged Brock, my Pokemon had to be on at least level thirteen, because of that big-ass Onix of his. And you need to raise your Pidgey, for a backup." He steered me toward the door of the Pokemon Center, where Gary was waiting. "Now let's get some sleep."

We booked a room and got ready to sleep. As my head hit the pillow, I lay awake for a few minutes, thinking of what might happen in my journey.

I hoped that one day, I could be just like Ash and Gary. As strong as them. Stronger, maybe…

DELIA's POV

Where were they?

They'd been out all day, and surely a trip to the doctor's couldn't be that far. Or maybe they were at Gary's.

But Leaf was responsible, and she would've called me if they were sleeping over at Gary's. And besides, what reason would they have to? Was Leaf still mad at me?

Darcy and his Mom had come and gone, but when Darcy didn't see Leaf, he'd become quite upset. That good boy, he was so fond of Leaf, it came as no surprise. She'd always go to his room and spend hours in there, catching up.

Although, she seemed quite shaken yesterday when I said he was coming… teenagers.

I went up to Leaf's room, but it was… empty?

What was going on? Both Ash's and Leaf's rooms were empty, like they'd… left?

I picked up my phone and dialed a number. It answered on the second ring.

"Ah, good evening, Delia. Say, is Gary with Ash and Leaf?"

"Good evening, Professor Oak. No, he isn't. I was about to ask you if his room was empty, because Ash's and Leaf's are and they're both missing."

"Oh… so he left already."

I frowned. "What do you mean?"

"I have no idea of the whereabouts of Ash and Leaf, but Gary said he'd be leaving for about 9 months to one year. He didn't say why or where."

"Ah… thanks, Professor."

"No problem."

I cut the call and angrily flung the phone on Leaf's bed, then proceeded to look around for something, ANYTHING that might give me a clue as to where they might have gone. I at least know they're with Gary…

Something stuck out from Leaf's drawer, and I pulled it out. A paper?

I opened it and began to read.

 _Dear Mom,_

 _You'll probably freak out when I say this, but I've left on my journey with Ash and Gary. I couldn't stomach seeing Darcy (Don't worry, I'll tell you soon enough), so I had to get out of here. Ash helped me get out, and don't worry, they're taking care of me very well. Mom, I'm gonna make you proud of me. Don't worry about me, okay? I'll be fine. I've gone to pursue my dreams. I'm gonna be the best Ace Trainer to ever have existed in the PokeWorld. Goodbye, Mom. I'll see you in a few months._

 _Your loving daughter,_

 _Leaf._

I closed the note, tears welling up in my eyes. How could she? She was raised better than that.

I huffed out a breath. Those kids are in SO much trouble. They're coming home IMMEDIATELY.

I picked up the landline. Hmm, they should be in Pewter by now.

9-1-1. There?

"Good evening, Pewter Police."

"Good evening. I'd like to report the case of my two children, they're missing…"

 **Bam-bam-boosh! There's your second chapter! Will they find Ash and Leaf? Or will they evade the clutches of the police? BTW, this is not a cliffhanger. It's a preview of what may or may not happen in the next chapter. Stay tuned to find out what does! Review, please! - Dinah**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hi guys! Here's chapter 3. Leaf has a few things to say to you:**

 **Leaf: Hello everyone! Dinah says she made me kind of hyperactive because, well, she's hyperactive. I myself have finished this story and I know what the ending is, but I'm not gonna spoil it for you, lollipops! Read on! And please review, it makes Dinah happy. On with the story!**

LEAF's POV

BEEP! BEEP!

I yawned and opened my eyes, then looked at the clock on the room door. 7:23.

"Leaf? You up?"

"Ash?" I yawned again. "Yeah, I am. What's up.?" I was still lying down.

"I think you should come see this."

"Ugh." I rolled out of bed and padded over to where he was watching TV. Gary was with him, and they both looked engrossed in whatever they were watching. They were both still in pajamas.

I turned to face the TV. "I swear, if it is just another one of your stupid soccer matches, I will -"

I froze.

"We have been informed of three missing teenage residents of Pallet Town by the names of Gary Shigeru Blue Oak, Ash Satoshi Red Ketchum and Leaf Midori Green Ketchum. Gary is known to have spiky golden hair, medium brown eyes and is about 6"3. He is of muscular build and is 17 years old. Ash is known to have unruly black hair, brown eyes as well and wears a red hat. He is 18 years old, has a manly build and is about 6"4. The last resident, Leaf, possesses long brown hair and bright green eyes. She is of a petite, pubescent build and is 14 or 15 years old." The announcer paused, then continued. "Word has been sent out to all indigenes of Viridian and Pewter Cities to keep an eye out for these teenagers and report any sightings to the Pewter Police. Cerulean and Vermilion will also be alerted to be on the lookout for them." She smiled. "Moving on to the current economic situation of the region; Kanto is currently right behind Unova in terms of most successful money affairs…"

Ash turned off the TV.

There was a moment of silence.

"So now what?" Gary asked. "Anyone who watches the news will be on the lookout for us now, and we're gonna be sent back home immediately. And trust me, I do not want to go back there."

"It's mom." I sighed. "I can't believe she actually has the nerve to try to force me to come back. I'm not a child anymore! I'm freaking 14 for crying out loud!" As I spoke, I flung my hands outwards. The clock fell down and broke, leaving behind a cloud of… pink smoke?

"Huh?"

What just happened?

"Did I… do that?"

"Hah! What utter foolishness!" Ash scolded me, but he looked nervous. "How can you think of something so outrageous? Simply scum!"

"Ash…"

"ANYWAY, back on topic. I am sure as hell not returning to Pallet," Ash remarked.

"Neither am I." Gary agreed.

"I don't want to either." I huffed. "So… what do we do? And we haven't eaten breakfast either."

We sat there, thinking. Gary suddenly spoke up.

"I have an idea. But if it's gonna work, we'll need some help." He released Cradily.

"Dily!"

"Cradily… do you think you could make us wigs?"

An hour later, I was walking out of the Pokemon Centre with shoulder length pink hair and blue eye contacts, Gary had styled blond hair with a clip-on nose ring and Ash sported sunglasses and a head of wild red curls without his cap.

Gary wore dark skinny jeans with a button up shirt that had the sleeves rolled up and the first few buttons tantalizingly undone – NO, just undone – and black trainers. Ash wore a muscle T-shirt with brown khaki shorts and navy blue socks with green slides, and I wore a body-con, knee-length striped dress with a pearl necklace and white peep-toe wedges.

We walked into the restaurant to get some breakfast. We were the only ones there because it was Saturday and most people were sleeping. Gary had left his car in Viridian for some reason, so we had to walk. Our bags were outside.

Ash spoke to the man at the counter.

"I'd like a coffee with a chocolate croissant, Spanish omelet, pancakes and a plateful of sausages," he said. I rolled my eyes.

"Of course, sir." Ash paid and left with his order. Gary ordered too, and it was just me left.

I turned to the clerk and began to order. "I'd like …"

"Well, bonjour, pretty lady," the man said, wiggling his eyebrows at me. "What say you we go and…" he eyed my dress suggestively. Crap. My fault for wearing a dress that clung to my body. "… have some _fun?"_

"Keep moving, junior. I'm not here to 'have fun', I'm here to eat. And if you want my business, you'll stop flirting with me and do your damn job. Now I'd like to place my order, please."

The man huffed and took my order. When it was time for me to pay, I looked into my purse. Dang. I was ten dollars short. I gave all my money to the man, but felt a tingling sensation on my palm.

"Mis-sy, you are ten dollars short."

I tried to explain myself. "I know, but I was kind of in a hurry this morning and it probably flew somewhere in the room and -"

"Not my problem."

I started sweating. How the hell was I going to pay?

"I'm sorry, I can't pay…"

"THEN I can't give you your order. Or…" he whispered, eyeing me once more. "You can pay in another way."

My eyes widened as it dawned upon me. "No way."

"Come on. It's either that, or you go without breakfast."

Shit. I can't believe I was actually considering this, but I was hungry as hell.

I looked back at my purse, then at the guy again.

Wait.

I looked back down. My purse was FULL.

What the heck?

I could wonder about this later. Right now, I was taking advantage of the situation, and I pulled out a hundred-dollar bill (seemingly the smallest amount in the purse) and handed it to the man, leaving it outstretched until he gave me my change.

He grumbled and gave me my order, and I went to sit with the boys.

"'Amanda', what took you so long?" That was my alias.

"Nothing, Hunter, just money problems." That was Gary's alias.

"Y'know, you could've asked me to pay for you."

I sweat dropped. I was so stupid.

We quickly ate and left. As we were walking, I noticed people whispering and pointing to the three of us. We didn't even look like our normal selves, but there were three of us and we still matched the heights given. Still, I don't think anyone suspected too much.

We reached the Gym. I reached for Pidgey's PokéBall; we'd trained before leaving the Pokemon Centre; Flora had reached level 12 and Pidgey had reached level 11.

"It's all you, Leaf. You can do this." Gary squeezed my hand, I think I blushed. I don't know why, but I just did.

"Thanks." I squeezed his back. Ash gave me a hug.

"It's your first Gym Battle, Leaf. If you don't win, you can always try again. Break a leg. We'll be watching from the sidelines."

We all walked into the Gym, my nerves jumping. Had I even been this nervous? I think Gary felt my jumpiness, because he squeezed my hand again and smiled down at me.

"Whoa, why don't you guys get a room?"

We looked forward to see a young man with spiky brown hair. He wore pants only.

"He your boyfriend?"

I realized he was talking about me and Gary.

"OH, no. Um…" I released our intertwined fingers.

The man laughed.

"Hey, fellas! My name's Brock. I'm the Gym Leader of Pewter City! Ash! Gary! Long time no see. I see the pretty Lady's here to challenge me."

Oh yeah, Ash and Gary went on their journey a few years back.

"Yes, she is, Brock. She's also my sister."

Brock's eyebrows shot up.

"Challenge accepted. What's your name, sugar?" Gary tensed beside me.

"Um… Leaf." 

"Right, Leaf. Well, let's get this over with, shall we?"

Huh? He didn't recognize us?

"Excuse me, sir, do you watch news?"

"Call me Brock, sweetie. No, it's a waste of time and I'd rather train."

"Oh, okay then."

Ash and Gary went to the sidelines to watch, and Brock and I took our respective positions.

A screen appeared in the arena, and a voice started speaking.

"This will be a two-on-two match between Gym Leader Brock of Pewter City and challenger Leaf Ketchum of Pallet Town. Substitutions are allowed from only the challenger's side. Are you ready?"

"Ready," Brock said, sending out a Geodude. The screen showed it was at lv 8.

"Ready!" I sent out Pidgey.

"Begin!"

"First move's yours, Leaf."

"Thanks." Ash had taught me how to battle. With mentoring from the champion himself, this was going to be easy-peasy.

I sent out Pidgey.

"Leaf! Have you gone mad?" Gary yelled. Ash simply smirked.

Oh yes, big bro. I'm gonna show how good a teacher you are.

"Pidgey, Double Team!" Copies of Pidgey appeared all over the battlefield.

"Now use sand attack!" Pidgey sprayed sand at Geodude, its vision clouding.

"Geodude! Shake it off and use Rock Tomb!" It punched the ground and rocks flew everywhere, fading the copies out one by one until only one remained.

"Use Gust, Pidgey!" It did so, and the Geodude's level went down by about half.

"Use Gust again, Pidgey!"

"Mega Punch!" The Geodude violently punched Pidgey, and Pidgey's level went down by about a quarter.

"Pidgey, use sand attack, follow up with Gust and use one final tackle!" Pidgey used his wings to beat up sand in a tornado around the Geodude, who looked downright confused.

I smirked.

The sand tornado became entwined with air, closing in on the Geodude who was slowly losing HP, and then Pidgey dove into the tornado head first, colliding with the Geodude one last time. It created a huge dust cloud.

When the dust cleared, Pidgey had about half of its health left, and the Geodude lay motionless on the floor.

"Round one victor: Leaf Green Ketchum! Round Two! Gym Leader, send out your second Pokemon."

I was expecting a second Geodude, but no. My wishes have a history of turning into the opposite.

Out came a massive, looming, foreboding grey rock snake, with its dark eyes boring into me.

Brock smiled. "Meet Onix, Leaf. He's my trusty starter."

I tried to hide my fear, but I was shaking violently. I heard Ash shout something to me.

"Calm down, Leaf! Don't let your fears get the best of you! Never forget that every Pokemon has a weakness! EVERY POKEMON HAS A WEAKNESS!"

Right. But the problem is finding it.

Every Onix looks like this, right? Rocks stacked on top of each other. Where would their weak spot be?

I examined it closely.

THAT WAS IT!

If I could just knock the Onix off balance, it would dismantle! Its body would scatter everywhere. That's all I need to do.

"Let's do this, Pidgey."

Pidgey wasn't looking too good, but he nodded.

"Alright, Pidgey, use-!"

"Rock Smash."

Before I could even blink, the Onix had gathered up a pile of rocks, wrapped its tail around Pidgey, and slammed it into the rocks.

There was no question. Pidgey was knocked out.

"Leaf, that was one strong Pidgey. Too bad it lucked out."

"Yes, but I'm not done yet!" I threw a PokéBall. "Flora let's go!"

"Ha, you're gonna need more than type advantage to win, Leafy!"

"Hey!" Gary called from the sidelines. I rolled my eyes.

"That was not what I was aiming for. Flora, Vine Whip!"

Flora smacked Onix with her vines, dropping its health by quarter.

"Tsk, tsk. It's not polite to take advantage of your seniors like that. Let's teach her a lesson, Onix! Wrap!"

"Let it hit you, Flora!" She let it, albeit painfully.

"Sorry, Flora! But I need you to get as close to Onix as possible!"

"Saur!"

"Slam it, Onix!"

Onix slammed Flora on the ground, and holy crap, her health dropped by three quarters.

"Flora! Use Absorb!" Flora drained energy from Onix, making it cry out in pain and release her.

"Amazing, Flora! Now listen. Use your vines to lift up that Onix! And slam it on the ground!" Flora slammed it with great effort, but it didn't scatter. Its health dropped to about 20%.

"Good, Leaf! You found its weakness!" Ash called to me.

"But it didn't work! Dang!"

"Onix. Use your tail to hit that thing! Quick!"

Onix, who wasn't looking so good, weakly slammed its tail into Flora. Because it wasn't at full force, Flora took minimal damage, but her health was on red now.

"Flora." I called to her. "You are doing so well, and don't beat yourself up if you can't do this, okay? I'm gonna ask you to do something for me. But just say the word, and I'll call off the battle. Can you?"

She looked back at me. Nodded.

"Great." I smiled. "You have to do what you did before. You know, slam Onix with your vines."

"Bulba!"

"Wait for my signal."

"Onix, slam it again!"

Onix turned its tail toward Flora.

"NOW!"

Flora grabbed the confused Onix by its tail, and heaved it with great effort, about ten metres into the air.

"Now slam it!"

Flora brought down her vines with the Onix, shattering it into pieces and creating a huge crater on the floor. The buzzer sounded.

Onix was down.

Flora was still standing, panting.

"The winner of this challenge is Leaf Green Ketchum!"

I… I won?

I won!

I ran to Flora and hugged her with all my might. "We did it Flora!"

"Saur!"

"Leaf!" I was engulfed in a crushing hug from behind, slightly being lifted off my feet. "You were amazing! How did you do that?!"

"C'mon, Gary. How did YOU win your challenge?"

"Well, Leaf, I wasn't expecting that. I have to say, I am honestly embarrassed right now," Brock said, scratching his head. "Here's the Stone Badge."

"Yay!"

******************************20 minutes later**************************

We'd healed my Pokemon but still kept our disguises on, and we'd gone to the PokeMart to get torches and a few other supplies, like food and clothes. We were standing in front of Mt. Moon. We'd gone through Route 3, and I had battled all the hikers and youngsters and bug catchers and lasses – who were very attracted to Gary – with the boys healing my Pokemon whenever they were down, and I was making good progress. Flora had reached level 14, and Pidgey had reached level 13 and had learned wing attack.

Life was good.

"So how long are we gonna be in here?"

"Probably a few days. Three at the most. Good thing we brought fully charged flashlights," Ash said, waving his in front of my face.

"Right." I liked this cave. There was this feeling about it, like I was going to discover something huge about myself here.

I know that sounds crazy. But I can't shake the feeling.

"What are we waiting for, you guys?! Let's go in!" I hopped inside the dark cave and switched on my torchlight immediately. It landed on a sign.

 _Mt. Moon has been declared as an off-limits zone to travelers, hikers and other visitors, reason being that Team Rocket has been doing dirty business here for the past few weeks. If you are reading this sign, you are strongly advised to turn back and leave, because you will require the strength of the Champion to get through this cave without getting killed._

Well, Gary was Champion-strong, because he actually beat the Elite Four before Ash thumped him, and… well… Ash WAS the champion. So I've got nothing to fear!

"Paras."

AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!

"GARY! ASH! Get in here! NOW!" I started crying.

"Leaf? What's wrong?" Ash looked frantic. "Why are you crying?"

"I could have died!"

He read the sign. "Don't worry, Gary and I won't let anything happen to you."

"No…" I hiccupped. "A Paras crawled over my foot…"

Ash sweat dropped. HARD.

"Leaf, not now. Please." He paused for a bit. "Hey Gary! Get in here and see this!"

"What?" Gary asked, stepping in. Seeing the sign, he switched on his torchlight and read it. "Hn. Well, we've already come this far, so what choice do we have but to keep going? And besides…" He looked at me. "We're doing this so you can get what you want, right? That's what matters the most." I looked away and blushed, but he couldn't see me because it was so dark.

Honestly, I wasn't even sure what I felt for Gary. He was my best friend, I'd known him since we were children. I knew I loved him, as a best friend, but I don't know, there was something ELSE there. Like a crush, but more… special. And it wasn't tiny at all. It seemed to be growing bigger almost every day. But I hadn't had a boyfriend for a long time, so maybe I was just trying to fool myself into liking him, just to have something to entertain me.

So it was settled. I didn't like Gary… Right? No… no. No, I didn't.

A short silence ensued, with Gary staring at me, me looking away, and Ash with a knowing smirk on his face.

"Right, lovebirds! Let's be on our way!" Ash yelled, running deeper into the cave with his torch.

Gary and I started to walk after him, then realized what he said and both broke into a sprint.

"ASH, you are SO dead!"

…...

By the time we caught up with Ash, he'd already started setting up his sleeping bag and had lit a fire.

"That was quite rude of you, Ashy-boy," Gary said.

"Yeah!"

"But neither of you denied it." Ash grinned. "Or tell me, will you say it's false?"

Gary and I both grunted and went to set up our sleeping bags. We had dinner later on.

"You guys?"

They turned to look at me.

"I just wanted to thank you guys for everything so far. Me leaving, saving me from creeps, getting my first Gym Badge…" I waved it proudly in front of their faces.

"Aww, it's okay, Leafy!"

"Yeah! What are best friends and brothers for?"

I pretended to think about it for a while, "I don't know…" I grinned evilly.

"Group hugs?!"

The boys let out a series of groans as I flopped down on them.

"LEAF, get off!"

"LEAFY!"

"Not a chance!" I squeaked happily. "You know the password…"

"Hmm… tickles?"

I widened my eyes as Gary caught on.

"No… you guys…"

A few seconds later, I was wriggling on the floor and squealing with laughter.

"G-GUYS-S-S, S-S-STOP!"

"Why should we?" Ash asked.

"P-P-PLEASE, I'LL DO ANYTHING!"

"Anything?" Gary questioned. The torches had fallen over.

"ANYTH-TH-TH-THINGGG!"

"Tell me I'm the hottest guy on the planet."

"NO W-WAY!"

I noticed that Ash was now standing a few feet away, watching us with a smile.

Gary tickled harder.

" _AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!_ HAHAHA—FINE! GARY, YOU ARE THE H-HOTTEST GUY ON THE PLANET!"

"Tell me you would like to kiss me." He seemed to be getting more serious.

"I'd like to kiss you!"

"Tell me you love me…"

Ash's eyes widened.

"C'MON, GARY…"

"Just… say it, Leaf."

"BAAAAHHHH!" Tears were trickling down my cheeks and my ribs were aching.

"I l-love you."

Gary stopped tickling me. He let me sit up, panting and gasping and catching my breath, then took my hand in his larger one.

"Do you really mean that?"

"Of course, Gary. You're my BFFL. You've heard me say it to you like a thousand times."

"Do you mean it any other way?"

I contemplated it for a while. "No, am I supposed to?"

Somehow, I felt like I wasn't saying the whole truth. Like I was lying when I said that.

Gary sighed, shaking his head. "Good night, Leaf." He turned off his torch and went a few yards away to sleep.

I, on the other hand, was confused as hell.

"Leaf," Ash said, coming to sit beside me. "You do not know how to take a hint, do you?"

"WHAT did I do?"

"Nothing, Leaf." He stood up. "Good night."

What the hell?

….

I woke up to the sound of soft thumping.

"Huh?" I switched on my torch and checked my watch. 7:19 am.

I walked slowly in the direction I suspected the sound to be coming from. As I got closer, it got louder, until I rounded a huge rock to see…

About 10 massive Rhydons surrounding a tiny little Abra, who was trying to use its Psychic power to hold them off, but it was weakening by the second…

Until it vanished completely.

The Rhydons (one was like 9 times bigger than me) went in on it, and I could hear crunching and smacking and was that… a crack?

I started crying. They were going to kill it!

I turned around to go back to the boys, but I just couldn't leave that little Abra there to die! I don't know what would compel me to do such a crazy, dangerous thing, but I turned around and ran back to the murdering.

I screamed.

"HEY!" The Rhydons turned to look at me. They then surrounded the clearing with a seemingly soundproof rock wall, so the boys wouldn't hear me.

I was trapped.

The Rhydons left the Abra and came rushing at me at, like, 50 metres per second.

They were going to kill ME.

"Oh crap."

 **Hey readers! There's a cliffy for you! Oh-oh, Leaf's gonna lose her life to a bunch of psychopathic Pokemon! Or will she? Stay tuned to find out!**


	4. Chapter 4

**So, readers, I have nothing to say to you. Oh, and I forgot about the disclaimers. BTW, Misty will be making her cameo in this chapter! I felt like it's been long enough keeping her out, and she's one of the main characters, so… yeah.**

 **Disclaimer: If I owned Pokemon, Misty and Ash would be dating by now.**

 **Read on!**

…

 **LEAF's POV**

"Shit, shit, holy shit." Now what do I do? My voice began to crack. I wasn't used to such violent situations.

I started to cry… again.

Compassion had been my downfall. This was how I was going to die…

I held my hands up in defense, bracing myself for the last second of my life.

…

Except it never came.

I stopped crying. "Wh- what?" I dared to look in front of me… and nearly died, not out of being eaten, but out of shock.

Holy crap. Was I dreaming?

The Rhydons were floating, about two inches from my nose, and they were enveloped in a light glow fluctuating from light green to light green.

If Pokemon could understand English, this was my chance to escape. I could wonder about this later.

"Listen," I hastily began, my voice cracked, "I didn't mean to make you mad. I just… I couldn't leave the little Abra hanging there!" I waved my arms about. "I-"

But I didn't finish my sentence, because as soon as I started to wave to my arms about, the Rhydons separated into two, still floating, and crashed against the cave walls repeatedly, seemingly mirroring my arm movements. Huh?

I minutely lifted my little finger.

The Rhydons hit the ceiling and slammed onto the ground. Could I… control rocks?

The pink glow disappeared, and the Rhydons were REALLY angry now. They came rushing at me once more, their heads bowed and their horns glaring, ready to impale me at any second.

"HOLY SHIT!"

I ran to the side screaming, but they gave chase. Then another weird thing started to happen as I ran: with each step I took, a huge pillar of rock rose up behind me and hit each or the Rhydons in the core, until one by one they were all out cold.

I sat down, panting heavily, the dried tears on my face mixed in with the dust from the clouds of dirt risen from the rising rocks.

Had I just… cheated FATE?

I looked at myself. I was enveloped in a light green color. It then turned pink as I realized that the tiny Abra was levitating me towards it.

I landed in front of it and it started to whimper. Poor thing, it was so badly hurt. I picked it up and examined it, and holy crap, its two legs, its neck and an arm were broken.

"Oh, you poor thing…" I picked it up and cuddled it. "Did I do this to you?"

The Abra was shivering. I took off my jacket, wrapped it around the Pokemon, and felt its head for temperature. As I did so, I heard a voice.

"Thank you."

Huh? I looked around. I thought the cave was soundproof?

I looked down at the Abra again, who was looking up at me with gleaming pink eyes. I also noticed that it was completely healed.

Was it talking to me? No, that was crazy. Then again, crazy things HAD been happening, like, I don't know… ME ESCAPING DEATH AND LEVITATING RHYDONS?!

"Yes, I am."

I was at a loss for words. "Wh…. B… H…" I paused for a while. "How are you doing that?"

"I was told that my future trainer would be a psychic, and we'd be able to talk telepathically."

"But I'm not a psychic."

"Really? Let me see you mind."

The Abra sent a ring of pink circles into my head.

"Ah. I can see everything in your head. Sit down, and I'll tell you all about it."

….

"Hold up! Hold up, hold up, hold up." I took a deep breath. "You're telling me, I am a born psychic, and I can control, like, ALL the elements and Kinetic stuff?"

She gave me a look. "Yes," Abby deadpanned. I'd called her Abby.

"That is so cool! Let me try it."

I tried to lift a small pebble with my hand. It didn't move.

I flung up my arms in exasperation. "Hey! Why-"

A huge portion of the ground smashed into the ceiling, showering grits of rock all over me and Abby.

"All right then."

Suddenly the ground started to sway, tilting more horizontally until it connected painfully with my temple.

The last thing I saw before blacking out was Abby, rushing over to me.

….

I woke up to a room with glaring bright lights, an extremely low temperature, and a pounding headache.

"Ow."

"Leaf!" I heard Gary's voice. I tried to sit up, but the headache worsened. Gary eased me back down. I was in a hospital room.

"No, Leaf. You need to rest."

"I need painkillers." He gave them to me. "You look and smell like crap."

"Could say the same to you."

I paused for a minute, letting the painkillers work their way in. "Where's Ash?"

"Right here."

I looked to my left and saw Ash… sleeping. I laughed.

"How long?" Gary looked confused. "Since I was out?"

"Like a week."

"Yay! So my birthday's in four days!" My head felt better already.

"Abra!"

I looked around for where the squeak had come from.

"Abby?"

Abby squealed and leapt into my arms.

"Oh yeah, this Abra. Wouldn't leave your side," Gary said, reaching out his arm to pet it.

"Yeah… which reminds me." I glared at him. "When were you going to tell me?"

Gary looked nervous. "About what?"

"That I'm… I don't know, a PSYCHIC?!"

"What are you talking about?" Gary asked, trying to play dumb.

"Really?" I paused. "So it was a dream then. Aww, I was really happy. It was fun while it lasted."

"Leaf, lift your hand," Abby suddenly told me. I did so.

A vase in the corner levitated.

I sent daggers at Gary, who was starting to sweat, and launched the vase at his head. Due to my inexperience in psychokinesis, it went REALLY fast, and he just barely dodged it.

"WHOA!" He shouted as the vase flew past his head, shattering on the other wall. "Trying to kill me?"

"When were you going to tell me?"

We heard footsteps. Abby quickly pieced the vase back together.

A young doctor came in.

"Ah, Leaf, you're up!" She popped a thermometer in my mouth, and Ash woke up.

"Hmm, your temperature's good, but I'd say the humid Cerulean air isn't doing much for you. I'd suggest to get moving as soon as you're discharged."

"And when will that be, miss?"

"About tomorrow."

"And we'll get moving IMMEDIATELY." Ash piped up. "Leaf will challenge the Gym Leader and be on her way, Doctor Ivy."

"Aww, Ash! I want to see the sites!"

"This is for your own health, Leaf. You'll thank me later." He stood up and stretched. "Now you should get a good night's sleep; it's 5:08. We have a long way to go tomorrow."

"And you should get a shower."

Gary rolled his eyes at me. "Bye, Leaf."

All three of them exited the room.

I stroked Abby in my arms. "I wish I could go out." She looked sad too. Then she brightened up, right when I did too. I think we both thought the same thing.

"You naughty little Pokemon!"

"Leaf, don't get any crazy ideas…"

"Ash said I should get a good night's sleep, and I will, but what he _didn't_ say was that I shouldn't go out…"

With that, I grabbed Abby and leapt through the open window of the hospital window.

*********outside*********

"Wow! I love this place!" I said as I walked around. I reached the bike shop and went inside.

"Hey there, sweetie! Are you alright? You look quite pale." The middle aged owner said to me.

"I'm fine." I looked at my savings. 293, 000 Poke Dollars. "Um, how much is one bicycle?"

"A million Poke Dollars."

"Aww." I pretended to look really sad. "I don't have enough for that."

The man thought for a while. "Say, how about we make a deal?"

"Yes please!"

"I lend you one of my bikes, and you ride it around for me to advertise! We've been really low on sales lately."

"Of course!"

I exited the store on a brand new bike. Ooh yeah.

A bridge at the end of town caught my eye. "Hmm, Abby, what is that? There seem to be… trainers on it?"

"That's Trainer Bridge, and beyond that is a route full of trainers. Then at the end of the route, there's a pokemaniac named Bill. The place is called Cerulean Cape."

"Hmm, a little training wouldn't hurt, especially since I have a gym battle tomorrow. Let's do it! Abby. Would you like to become my Pokemon?"

"Aren't I already?"

I happily tapped a PokéBall on her head, then checked my Pokedex for her moves.

 **This Abra is a female at level 19 and knows the following moves:**

 **Confusion**

 **Psywave**

 **Calm Mind**

 **Extrasensory**

 **Hypnosis**

I released Abby. "Wow! You're really strong... more than three levels above my strongest Pokemon!"

"Heheh, I try."

"So you're gonna evolve soon." I nodded. "Righty then. I won't use you at first, you'll be like my backup; if my Pokemon faint, then you can step in. Let's go!"

We reached Trainer Bridge, and were battling the trainers there. We were on the last one.

"I'm number five! The toughest of all!" The little youngster said, sending out a level 13 Oddish.

"Pidgey, you know what to do."

"Pi!"

"Oddish, razor Leaf!"

It hit Pidgey, and he lost some health.

"Use Peck, Pidgey." It did so; the Oddish was almost down.

"Peck again." The Oddish was out. Pidgey reached level 17.

"Go, Beedrill!"

"Use Poison Sting!"

The Beedrill jabbed one of its talons into Pidgey, and it took a lot of damage.

"Ouch! Pidgey! Create a Gust tornado and fly into it, then use wing attack while hidden in the Gust!"

"Pidgey!"

Pidgey whipped up a gust with his wings, and waited for it to grow larger and larger. He then flew in, head-first, ready to deliver the wing attack to the Beedrill, but then something weird started to happen.

Pidgey started glowing!

His wings and his form in general grew larger, and the tuft of feathers on his head grew larger and more majestic. His height grew, and his HP got restored a little. When the glowing ceased, he struck the Beedrill hard, knocking it out immediately.

When he landed, he screeched, "PIDGEOTTO!"

I was so happy! "Pidgey, you evolved!"

"Geotto!" It squawked, flying over to me to nuzzle.

The youngster marched off, not before dumping a pile of money in my hand.

"Wow, Leaf! That was amazing," Abby said. "I can't wait to evolve."

"Don't worry; I'll train you, and you will."

"Okay, then."

We kept marching along, winning all the trainers on the route. Flora was almost past level 18, and Pidgeotto was on level 17.

When we got to the end of the route, we saw a sign saying: Cerulean Cape.

"Hmm. So that," I said, pointing to a nearby house, "must be where Bill lives."

I walked up to it and rung on the Bell, and a man answered.

"Howdy, there! I'm Bill. I'm a true-blue Poke Maniac!"

"Hi. I'm Leaf, and…"

"Now what brings you here at such a late hour? Anyway," He paused, reaching into his pocket and revealing four tickets to the… 'S.S Anne'?

"Huh?"

"There's a party on the ship, and I was invited, but I can't stand fancy 'dos. So you just go on ahead of me and have a good time!"

"Thanks, but…"

"Buh-bye!"

He slammed the door in my face.

"All righty then…"

"He's quite bubbly for a man. I know." I turned around to see a pretty, tall girl who looked about my age, with bright reddish-orange hair and cheeky blue-green eyes, with freckles scattered across her cheeks. "I'm Misty. Misty Waterflower." She stuck out her hand.

"I'm Leaf… Leaf Ketchum." I blundered, slightly caught off guard by her sudden appearance.

"Ketchum, eh?" She eyed me curiously. "You have a brother?"

I sighed. "Yes. Ash Ketchum, Champion of the Kanto and Johto League."

"That's nice. You look like him, though. Not his hair or anything, but you have his features. His nose, facial structure, hormones…"

I was suspicious. "How do you know him?"

"Oh, nothing, I've just seen a lot of his pictures." Misty replied.

"Right…" I looked at my watch. "Well, I'd better get going. I'm not exactly supposed to be here, so…"

"C'mon, I'll walk you. Where are you headed?"

"The hospital."

"The hospital?" Misty seemed to be deep in thought. "I heard an unconscious girl was brought there about a week ago. Was that you?"

"Yeah. I'm going to just challenge the Gym Leader tomorrow," She seemed intrigued, "and be on my way. Apparently the 'Cerulean Air' isn't good for me, but I like it. Oh, well."

"Hold on." She stopped walking. "You said you'd be battling the Gym Leader tomorrow. You'd better get in some practice first."

I was confused. "I've already battled all the trainers on this route."

"I know. But you still have two unevolved Pokemon, and that gym leader is crazy tough."

"So how do you suggest I get stronger?"

"Umm…"

She waved a PokéBall in my face.

"Okay then…"

We took our positions. Since there was no referee, we just started.

"Go, Staryu!"

"Pidgeotto, I choose you!"

"Staryu, use Water Pulse!"

Pidgeotto got hit with a blast of pulsing water and lost half its health.

"Use Wing Attack, Pidgeotto."

Staryu just turned its back to us, and received no damage at all.

"WHAT?!"

Misty smirked.

"Staryu, finish this with an Ice Beam!"

I was too shocked to even call out for my newly evolved Pokemon to dodge the attack. I sent out Flora.

"Bulbasaur!"

"Alright Flora, use Vine Whip!"

Flora used her vines to lift the Staryu and smash it on the floor.

"Staryu-"

"Again, Flora!"

This time Staryu got knocked out immediately.

"Ugh!" Flora reached level 19. "Go, Starmie!"

"Star!" Misty was angry.

"Starmie, use Ice Ball! NOW!"

A flurry of snowballs came flying at Flora.

"Dodge them, Flora!" She managed to dodge some, but still got pelted by many. She cried out because of the super effective attack.

"Can you keep going, Flora?"

She looked back at me and nodded, looking back at Starmie with such a menacing look it shrank back in fear.

"SAUR!"

When Flora kept growling, I looked at her to see that… she was glowing!

Could this day honestly get any better? I woke up from a mini coma, two of my Pokemon evolved, and I got an amazing new Pokemon on my team!

When the glowing stopped, I saw a green Pokemon with its once premature bunch of leaves now spread wide to reveal a large un-bloomed pink flower on its back. It had grown to about 3'6" in size.

"IVYSAUR!" It screeched.

"No way!" Misty yelled.

"Way!" I was glowing, too! When it stopped, I didn't look any different, but I had a new tattoo of a leaf embedded on my wrist.

I checked my Pokedex. Flora had learned a new move!

"Alright, Flora! Use Razor Leaf!"

Sharp C-shaped leaves shot out of the bulb on Flora's back and sliced through the Starmie. It was almost down.

"Starmie, use Psybeam!"

Crap! Ivysaur was part poison type now as well. This would hit her hard.

But to my surprise, she leapt out of the way of the attack with ease.

"Now use Vine Whip, Flora!"

She screeched and wrapped her vines around an immobile Starmie, slamming it on the ground. It was out.

"We did it, Flora!"

"You were amazing," Abby said, coming up to Flora. Flora looked at her in confusion as to where she had come from. After I explained to her, Misty came up to us, smiling evilly.

"That was really good, Leaf. I'd say you've earned the badge already with that kind of expertise. Guess that comes with having the champion for a brother! Runs in the family!" Misty smiled.

"Thanks, Misty. You were good too." I looked at my watch. 11:53….

"Oh crap! They will definitely know I'm gone!"

"Come on, I'll walk you back."

I reached the hospital and said goodbye to Misty, then climbed in through the window. And sure enough, there stood a very angry looking Ash, Gary and Doctor Ivy.

I gulped.

"I can explain."

- _Leaf's Journey_ -

ASH's POV

"No, Leaf. We're not going to the cape anymore." I glared at her. "After sneaking out so late like that last night? Do you realise how sick you could've gotten?"

"But Ash! At least something good came out of it. Two of my Pokemon evolved! And I met someone named Misty! And-"

"You WHAT?!" Gary yelled. "You met a stranger?"

"W-ell, I don't think she was a complete stranger." She looked at me. "She seemed to know you, Ash. And she told me the Gym Leader was really strong."

We stopped in front of the Gym.

"Looks like this is it."

We stepped inside.

A few steps from the door, a large pool strewn with floaters and lane markers stretched to the end of the Gym. It was lined with blue pavement, and at the end of the Gym stood Misty.

Misty! It'd been a really long time. My bad mood vanished immediately.

"Misty?" Leaf asked. "What are you doing here?"

"Hi, Leaf. Who'd you bring with…" She turned and saw me and Gary standing there. "Gary? Ash?"

She hugged us both in turn, lingering a bit longer on me.

"So I take it Leaf's here to challenge me, since, I don't know, you both have."

"Yes!"

"Well, Leaf," she dug around in her knapsack, "here you go!" she pulled out a gleaming drop badge.

"WH-what? You're giving me a badge?" Misty nodded. "But I haven't challenged you formally!"

"Pfft, Leaf. We battled yesterday evening and you won. Don't you remember?"

"Yes, but…"

"And come on, you're stronger than average! You'd have still beaten me… if I hadn't used Gyarados."

"Fine." Leaf said. "But I'd rather have earned the badge.

"You did."

"I think we'd better get going," I cut in. "Thanks for everything."

"No problem." She hesitated for a moment. "Hey Ash, can I ask you something?"

"Sure, what is it?" She dragged me to the side while Leaf and Gary were talking.

"Yeah, um…" She bit her lip.

Sexy.

Uh, I meant, um… flexy…

"Can I…"

"Yeah?"

"Travel with you guys?"

I paused for a minute to process what she said.

Travel with us? As in me, Leaf and Gary?

I'm all for that, but will Leaf and Gary be?

"I'm fine with that, Misty, but… why?"

"I want to get stronger. It's quite annoying when you've trained all your water-type Pokemon and some kids with Pikachu's come and just walk all over you and grab your badge." She nodded. "So, yeah."

"No problem! But I'll have to ask Leaf and Gary first, though."

- _Leaf's Journey_ -

LEAF's POV

"So that's what happened yesterday, Gary. Like, I have a Pidgeotto and an Ivysaur now!" I looked at him hopefully. "What do you think is going to happen next?"

"You'll have to challenge the Vermilion Gym Leader. He's an electric type, so I'd recommend keeping your Pidgeotto out of the way."

"Makes sense."

Ash walked up to us with a nervous looking Misty. I immediately sensed that they had something huge to tell us. I would've been able to tell exactly what it was according to Abby, but I'm not that experienced yet.

Were they dating? Turns out they had known each other, AND liked each other very much.

"Um, Gary? Leaf? Misty has something she'd like to tell you."

Gary and I looked at her expectantly.

"Um…" She looked at Ash, who nodded for support.

"I want to travel with you."

GARY's POV

Excuse me?

Misty is TRAVELLING with us?

Awesome!

Leaf, however, didn't look so thrilled, I noticed as I looked sideways.

"Why?" She asked. "Don't you have to run the Gym?"

"Lily can do it for me."

"But-"

"That would be great, Misty!" I chimed in. Leaf shot me a look.

"Are you freaking kidding me?" she yelled.

"Nope. Plus, I need a water Pokemon trainer."

"It's settled, then!" Ash finalized. Everyone was happy except Leaf, who grunted angrily.

- _Leaf's Journey-_ -

We were in the Underground Path. We'd left Cerulean about two hours ago, and it was 1:30.

Ash, Misty and I were talking animatedly, and Leaf was still peeved.

"I think we should go swimming when we get there," Misty suggested. "It would cool us all down. What do you guys think?"

"Yeah!"

"Cool!"

She didn't ask for Leaf's opinion.

"Misty, did you know Leaf is trying out for the Pokemon championship?"

Misty gasped. "Really?"

"Yeah. She hopes to beat me one day and become an Ace Trainer AND one of the Elite Four."

"That's not realistic."

"Well, who asked for YOUR opinion anyway, water princess?" Leaf suddenly growled. "You don't know anything about me, so I suggest you keep your opinions to yourself.

"Oh, look, there's the exit."

Leaf stomped upstairs, and Ash and I rolled our eyes at her antics. Why was she being so salty?

We all reached outside where Leaf was waiting for us. Her face was squinted in the daylight, and she tried to pull down her hat.

Suddenly her phone rang. She sighed in content, like she was looking for a way to escape from the awkwardness, and picked up the phone. But her happiness was short-lived, as her face went pale, and Ash and I stiffened as she said the next word.

"Mom?"

 **Hey guys! Here's chapter four! What do you think will happen next? Review, follow and favorite please! I'll try to get Chapter 5 up as soon as possible.**

 **See y'all later! - Dinah**


	5. Chapter 5

**What? An update already? Yes, readers. It's not a dream. I'm actually posting up two chapters in one day.**

…

 **Well, I've got nothing else to say so read on.**

 **Disclaimer: Oh, how I wish I owned this.**

 **And one more thing. Sometimes I have trouble visualizing the characters' faces. So I just imagine them as celebrities. Like Leaf, I imagine her as the beautiful Barbara Palvin, and Misty as the stunning Amber Heard.**

 **Not that they are supposed to be (this isn't Wattpad) but imagine who you want to.**

- _Leaf's Journey-_

LEAF's POV

"Mom?"

"Leaf." She huffed angrily, and there was fury laced in her tone. "I don't even know what to say to you."

"Mom, I told you. I had to leave. I'm sorry if you don't support it, but it's my life from here on; I take the reins now. And besides, I'm fifteen in three days…"

"I don't want to hear it, you irresponsible child. You are a disgrace to this family."

I felt tears well up in my eyes. "Mom…"

"You, young lady, are going to come home immediately. And don't even think about disobeying me; I'm waiting for you in Vermilion." She hung up.

Frustrated, I threw the phone on the tar road and it smashed into pieces. Ash came up to me and wrapped his arms around me.

He didn't have to say anything.

- _Leaf's Journey_ -

"Right…" Ash paused to catch his breath in the polluted Vermilion air. "Welcome to

Vermilion, Leaf."

I looked around. "Why's the air so… stale?"

"Hey boys, how about we go for that swim now? I could really use it," Misty remarked as my question was completely overlooked.

"Me too," Ash said, following Misty.

"Wait up, guys!" Gary yelled, running after them.

And leaving me standing there.

How dare they? And that Misty girl – here I was thinking she was so nice. She's taking my spot in the group. It was always Ash, Leaf and Gary, but now it's starting to become Ash, Misty and Gary with sidekick Leaf.

This is why I didn't want her to travel with us.

Who needs them, anyway?! Misty is just a b****. Acting like I'm not even here.

And boys are just scum. Even my brother.

I could complete this journey on my own. Isn't that what the boys did, anyway? Why can't I?

I headed off towards the Gym.

GARY's POV

"Awesome!" Misty had shown us a water park that I hadn't even known was here.

I was sliding down a huge water slide, and my spiky hair had gone down flat against my head. I looked at Misty.

Boy, was she toned. She had an amazing body.

Especially from the waist down.

I tackled her from the waist and pulled her under, and she giggled with shock. When we came back up, she splashed water on me.

"You stupid playboy, Gary!" She was laughing hysterically. She had a beautiful smile.

I splashed her back. This splashing and tumbling competition went on for a few minutes, and we were really into it when we heard someone clear their throat.

We turned, in a very intimate position, to see Ash standing there…

With crushed ice cream cones in his hands.

"I was about to give you the ice cream cones you sent me to get, but if I had realized that you were just trying to get rid of me to screw around with each other…"

He dumped the ice cream cones on the floor.

"… then I would have just left to find Leaf, who someone has been trying to leave behind," he sent a pointed look at Misty, "earlier." With that, he stormed away, pushing past a few people.

I felt so bad.

…

I wouldn't have done this if I'd known he was on his period.

LEAF's POV

Did that just happen?

I lost.

I lost my first Gym Battle. Ever.

An old man poked his head out of his front door. "Hey! Little miss! I advise you get inside NOW! You do not want to be outside for very long…"

"Get the hell out!"

What on earth was I thinking? That I could beat a Gym Leader with a Flying-Type and a grass-Type Pokemon?

I am so stupid.

This whole Pokemon League challenge is stupid.

I wanting to be an Ace Trainer – anything more than a wimp – is utterly unrealistic and stupid!

Everything is stupid! Nothing matters anymore!

What to do…

I spotted Ash coming out of the Pokemon Centre, looking a bit out of it.

"Ash!"

His expression brightened immediately he saw me.

"Leaf! Hey!" He jogged over to me. "Where were you?"

"Oh, I don't know, trying to find something to do – and failing woefully at it – after getting ditched by my supposed brother and best friend?" I replied sarcastically.

He looked sheepish. "Sorry about that."

His expression turned from sheepish to confused. "Hold on. 'Failing at it'? You didn't…"

"I did."

"Oh." He paused. "Did you use Pidgeotto?"

"Umm…"

"Leaf! How many times have I taught you about type matchups?"

"But you do it all the time! I mean, you have MIRACULOUSLY ELECTROCUTED A **GROUND-TYPE** BEFORE!"

"Leaf, you're not at that stage yet. I'll mentor you more when you get stronger, okay?" He touched my cheek.

"What if I don't? I can't even win a Gym Leader. How can I ever beat you one day?" I paused to take a deep breath. "This whole thing is stupid… maybe I should just go back home…"

Ash held me firmly by my shoulders, and looked at me like I was crazy. "Leaf? Are you the same person who was always blabbing about how awesome Ace Trainers are? The one who was always yelling that she'd never stay home all day, and would always go out to see the world and never come back? What happened to that dream, Leaf?"

"I don't know. I don't think I have the potential for it anymore."

"Leaf." He gazed through me, sending waves of warmth and concern through me. "You've always had more than enough potential for it, and you always will, okay? I believe in you, Leaf. You can do this. You're my little sister, and I love you with all my heart. But you need to stop thinking like this; I won't have that at all. Heck, you're the younger sister of the Champion of the Elite Four and Pokemon League of Kanto and Johto!"

He suddenly hugged me.

"And one day, soon, that is exactly what you are gonna be."

I hugged him back, a tear escaping my eye. Boy, I was such a sissy.

"Thanks, Ash. You're the best brother to ever have existed."

"And you're the best person to have ever existed. I love you so much, Leaf. I want you to always know that."

I sniffed.

"How touching."

We both turned and looked up to see a group of menacing-looking bikers and cue balls. Their leader, as it seemed to be, was talking.

I noticed that the whole city was completely empty. Crap, I should've listened to that man!

And where the hell were Gary and Misty?

"Isn't this just dandy. We find the Champion here…" he gestured to Ash, "… and his very juicy- looking chick…" His yellowing eyes roamed, very slowly, up and down my body.

EW.

"Listen, we're kind of in a hurry, so we'll just be going…" I said, as Ash and I tried to edge past the stinking man.

He came in front of us, and his sidekicks surrounded us. Laughter echoed around them.

"We don't want any trouble." Ash's authoritative side came out.

But the leader laughed in our faces.

"I can see you're new to these parts. Y'see, around here, everyone knows y'all can't stick around after the lights are out," He drawled, referring to the sun.

"Your loss."

Ash reached for Charizard's PokéBall.

The leader kept blabbing.

Ash waited.

And waited.

I waited.

The sidekicks waited as their leader kept talking.

And…

"Charizard, GO!" Ash yelled, releasing Charizard.

"AAHH!" Their leader smiled maliciously. "KILLER POKEMON TOO!"

I tried to send a telepathic message to Charizard. I didn't know how to, but I had to try to save our skins.

I concentrated for a few seconds as the sidekicks came back to their senses.

Ow… my head.

Wait!

 _Charizard! Grab Ash and GO!_

Charizard looked at me in confusion. _And you?_

 _I can deal with these creeps. Trust me._

Charizard looked unsure, but nodded. He grabbed Ash's jacket and flung him onto his red back, then proceeded to fly away.

"Charizard! What are you doing?" Ash struggled as he was lifted higher into the sky. "Put me down NOW!"

I could see that it hurt Charizard. Still, he had to trust me on this.

"I swear, Charizard, I will jump down from you."

 _Make sure he doesn't, Char._

Charizard wrapped his arms around Ash, who violently struggled in his hold.

The creeps got closer.

 _Great. Now, I want you to fly down and pick me up at my signal…_

Charizard looked more at peace as he nodded.

"Whoa! The coward left his girl behind!" The leader cackled, then did the unexpected.

He rushed towards me, grabbed me and flung me over his shoulder!

What the hell?!

I needed to act NOW. I hoped as hell that this would work, since I can seemingly manipulate sound.

I inhaled sharply. The men started to carry me to their van, and I could see a… a GUILLOTINE in it.

Heck? Were they tribal worshippers?

I could see Ash's face as he noticed it too. His face started to crumble.

Now.

I took in a deep breath, as they were about to dump me in the van.

Then screamed.

Loud. Using my psychic powers to amplify it.

" _EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"_

The men were caught off guard, and dropped me on the floor as they covered their ears.

I jumped on the floor, and waves travelled in all directions, knocking them off balance and toppling the van! I started to dance.

I did it!

Charizard was on the ground, looking at me expectantly.

Oh, right.

I sprinted to him and jumped on his back, and we took off.

Ash wrapped his arms around me tightly, and kissed me everywhere on my face.

"Ash!"

"Leaf! Don't you EVER do that again."

I sighed. "Yeah. Well, I'm just glad that we got out of there. I mean look at them."

I gestured towards the angry mob, then turned back to Ash. "They are…"

Hold up.

I looked back at them. Oh. No.

Gary and Misty had FINALLY decided to come out, and the bikers turned on them instead.

OH COME ON!

GARY's POV

"Are you freaking kidding me?"

These creeps were shouting about how they were going to sacrifice us to their Grimer god or whatever. Really, the universe just needs to cut me some slack.

"Gary?" Misty asked.

"What?"

"I'm scared."

"Yeah." Woosh. "I am too."

"Gary!"

"What is it, Misty?"

"Huh?" She was preoccupied with fighting of the Bikers. Right… I'd better start doing that too.

"Gary!"

The name calling again. What?

 _Look up, Gary. In the sky._ Was that… LEAF? It was her voice, alright.

I looked up. She was sitting on Ash's Charizard.

 _You need to release your flying-type Pokemon and get up here._ Crap. I couldn't remember if I brought any flying-type Pokemon with me, and it was too risky to check.

"Misty? Do you by chance have any flying-type Pokemon?" The bikers stopped fighting and started up a fire on torches.

"Yeah, Gyarados. Why?"

"Could you release him?"

"Why on earth would I do that? I don't want him to get hurt!"

"So that we can… uh, fly away?"

She paused, giving the biker she was fighting with an opening. He landed a devastating right hook to her face.

"AAH!"

 _Serve her right._

Leaf. What the actual hell…

I kicked the guy in the chin, then the shin.

Hey! I rhymed!

"Go, Gyarados!" Misty managed to yell before passing out. The Pokemon came out, looking confused.

"Gya!"

"Do you think you could fly Misty up there?" I asked, gesturing to the Charizard.

"Gya!" I put Misty on it and it flew off.

Now…

Huh? As I was about to reach for Blastoise's Pokemon, my body started to… disintegrate?

When I … uh… reintegrated, I was sitting behind Leaf, and the bikers looked confused AF.

Gyarados and Charizard flew away.

Oh, well.

"Leaf? I was about to give them a piece of my mind."

"And you would have just killed yourself. Did you see that murdering device in their van?"

"…Yeah." I looked at my Pokeballs. Turns out I also have my Gyarados with me!

"Alright!" I yelled, releasing Gyarados and jumping onto him.

Leaf rolled her eyes.

Why is it always Leaf I talk about? I haven't talked about Ash… or Misty.

Misty!

"Leaf? You think you could revive Misty?"

She narrowed her eyes. "Why?" I noticed Ash had slept off as well.

"Um… I just…" Leaf sighed. She threw her bag to me.

"Huh?" I asked her. I looked through the bag and found a Revive.

"Am I supposed to use the Revive?" "Yes, dummy."

"Right…" I removed the Revive. "it's not for humans."

She shrugged. "Not my problem. If it can work on Pokemon, it can work on humans."

"Worth a try."

"…don't work…don't work…" I heard her whispering.

I sprayed the Revive on Misty. After a few seconds, her eyes opened slowly, but her left cheek had started to swell and redden.

I looked over her as we flew back to the Pokemon Center, feeling another pair of eyes bore into my back the whole time.

- _Leaf's Journey-_

When we touched down at the Pokemon Center, the first thing Leaf did was march up to the door and book us a room, then enter the room and slam the door.

Hn. It has been a while since we spoke… alone.

Ash, who had woken up, said to me, "I think I see what's going on here…" he whistled innocently, but not before taking Misty out of my arms and taking her to the room himself.

Shaking my head, I entered the room after him.

When I entered, Leaf seemed to be crashed on the bed. I decided not to disturb her as I went to the couch and lay down on it.

I drifted off, thinking about everything that went down today.

ASH's POV

Huh. He really is pooped.

I set Misty down on the couch gently. As I smoothed down her hair, I noticed – as I always did – how eye-catchiing her bright red hair was, her thick but not long eyelashes, her cute freckles scattered across the bridge of her delicately curved nose, and her lush, inviting cherry-colored lips, contrasting beautifully with her porcelain skin. Like always, I marveled at her beauty, just like I did when I first challenged her four years ago.

One too many times.

A cool, firm hand reached out and wrapped around my thumb that was encircling the corner of her lips.

"Ash… what are you doing?" Misty asked.

MISTY's POV

What was Ash doing?

"Umm…" he coughed.

My heart sped up. Was he… admiring me?

Did he like me? I knew I did him. Even though I denied it in front of Erica and Clair, I liked Ash. A LOT.

He seemed to be deep in thought for a while. Then he took a deep breath and said, "Can I talk to you, Mist?"

I became suspicious. "Well, sure. What is it?"

He looked around the room. "Can we get out of here? They might be listening in," He said, referring to Leaf and Gary.

"And you think it's wise to leave them here. Alone."

Ash blinked. "Gary can protect Leaf, so…"

Ugh! I slapped my forehead in exasperation. "NO, Ash! There is tension between them, and if they don't talk it out, their friendship might be ruined. As for now, we can't leave them here vecause off the awkwardness and…"

"They're asleep, Mist. And don't you think you might have contributed to that?"

I was caught off guard. "What are you talking about?"

"God, Mist. You live under a rock. So you're meaning to tell me that you don't have a clue how you've been treating Leaf like trash?"

I gulped. "I guess you noticed…"

"Oh no, I didn't," he said sarcastically. "I just happen to not care if my beloved little sister is getting maltreated by a complete stranger. Oh, no. I just whistle happily and live my life."

I winced. Big mistake there. "I'm sorry, okay?"

"I'm not the one you should be apologizing to." He sniffed. "Why are you even acting this way towards her, anyways?"

"Ash, to be honest, I didn't believe her when she said you were her brother. I mean, do you just believe anyone who says they're related to the champion?" I laughed masochistically. "Trust me, I didn't, and I was a bit skeptical. I decided that I wouldn't be nice to a liar, and a cheater, and that someone like that didn't deserve to have any friends. And even when we started traveling together, and you knew her, I thought she was just someone else you knew and that she wasn't even supposed to be going with me, you and Gary-"

"Number one. It's always been Ash, Leaf and Gary, the famous Pallet trio. Second, you shouldn't just jump to conclusions like that, and third, what right do you even have to judge her and decide what she deserves? You don't get to do that, Misty."

I gasped. "Ash -!"

"And to think you even had the audacity to – to do that! To my own sister," his voice rose higher with each word, "who is probably the most important female in my life right now. She just started her journey, Misty! Christ! Cut her some slack. She's still new to this world, and what she needs right now is nurture, care, determination, and you know the most important thing? Huh?" He was right in front of my face now, and was full on yelling at me.

I tried to hold back the tears that were threatening to spill out, but they came anyway. "What?"

"You have given her nothing like that. Do you know how much her mind may be twisted right now? How she might misunderstand everything around her? There is so much going on in her life now; so much has been revealed to her at once. And as she is trying to take it all in now, you just come along with your problems. Your meanness. Your sneakiness. Your terrible habit of jumping to conclusions. Judging her. Who gave you the damn right to do that, huh? Who the hell do you think you are, Misty?" I don't think I'd ever seen Ash this angry before.

I was crying heavily now. "Ash, stop," I hiccupped.

"God, Mist. From when I first met you, I had no idea you were like this. I've never seen this side of you before." He halted for a moment, placing his hand on his chin. In other circumstances, I would've taken the moment to admire how handsome he was, but unfortunately, this wasn't another circumstance. "Leaf was saying that she didn't want you to travel with us, and she told me she felt a strong negative energy coming from you. Maybe I should've listened to her…"

My eyes widened drastically. "NO! Please. I really do need to get stronger. I swear it's not to take Leaf away from you." He looked at me expectantly.

"Then why?"

I looked up at him. Into the safety of his warm brown eyes, the expression on his face one that seemed betrayed, not judging. How good his hugs were, for another thing.

I continued looking at him, and as I went on, I began to look not at him, but through him. Past him. I remembered the apprehensive but bold boy who had come to challenge me and won with his Pikachu. I remembered how happy his smile was, when he won me. I remembered how overjoyed he was when he became champion, and how I had started to feel something for him at that time. The feeling that progressed to butterflies having a party in my stomach, blushing when he spoke to me, and yearning for him as much as I did.

I needed to tell him. NOW.

He lifted an eyebrow in question. "Well, are you going to tell me, or—"

"I like you."

He blinked. I blinked. His dense side started to kick in.

Sigh. Guess I'll have to explain.

"I like you, Ash. I've liked you a lot for the past few years. I don't know if you like me back or not, but I need to get my feelings across to you, because it's become too strong to hold in. I want you. So bad, Ash, it hurts. I know this has nothing to do with Leaf, and I completely understand if you don't feel the same way about me." I gulped, and decided to take a big risk. "I also understand that this might completely ruin our friendship, and I'll re—"

I was cut off by something very surprising.

You wanna know what it was?

Ash was kissing me. With every single damn thing he had in him.

 **Review!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 7 is up, readers! Eager to find out what's going on? Happily read on! Sorry it took a while, though.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon in any way at all.**

 **Here we go!**

- _-Leaf's Journey-_

 **Misty**

I tried to pull away, but Ash held me close, preventing any escape. Not that I didn't want to kiss him… this was amazing.

But if he was kissing me, that meant he liked me, right?

I pulled back again, and he let me go.

"What? Why—"

"Why are you kissing me, Ash?" I inquired. "Do you… like me?"

He sighed, dragging a hand down the side of his face while pressing his swollen lips together.

"Yes, Misty. I do like you."

SQUEEEE!

"Okay." I swallowed. "On a scale of one to ten?"

He stared through me, looking very nervous. "You want the truth?"

I nodded.

"Eighty-nine."

WHOA.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"I was afraid you'd reject me!"

"And you're not afraid I'll reject you now? What would compel you to do such a reckless, risky thing?!"

"Because I like you! Really bad, I just couldn't hold it in anymore, Misty." He seized both of my hands. "Please, say you'll be mine!"

Looking him up and down, I deadpanned, "You're being a bit too dramatic."

He laughed, one that made the blood in my veins go a little faster. "Sorry. But seriously…" his rough hand caressed my cheek. "Will you be my girlfriend, Misty?"

Hmmm…

I liked him a lot, but was I ready to take such a big step?

I guess I…

Removing his hand from my cheek and stepping away, I saw his heartbroken expression.

"You, Ash… you have done so much. You've done the impossible, you've become a Pokemon Master, beaten all the Pokemon Leagues, saved the whole PokéWorld, are denser than the planet Jupiter…" I gasped, letting the overwhelming depression take over me. "How could I ever compare to you? I'm not nearly a quarter of the person you are. How could someone like you fall for someone as worthless as me? I'm just a flimsy, weak Gym Leader that anyone can beat…"

"Don't you dare say that."

"Why? It's the truth."

"No it's not. None of that is true, okay? Misty, you're beautiful. Spunky. Brave. Intelligent. Amazing. I"M not good enough for you!" Ash stared at me, his brown eyes glinting in the moonlight. "But please. If you let me, I can open your heart, and make you fly."

I giggled. "You are so cheesy."

"I know. But answer me, really."

Could I? Actually become known as 'the Champion's girlfriend?'

It's worth the risk.

I nodded silently.

"YES!" Ash yelled, pulling me into a hug. When he let go, he tackled my lips.

I smiled, letting myself melt into the kiss.

 **Gary**

I knew those two would get together soon. The sexual tension was too much.

I walked up to them while they were eating each other's faces out, crossed my arms, and splayed my legs.

"Well, well, well," they broke apart immediately. "This is an interesting sight. What do we have here?"

"Out, Gary," Ash said, still looking Misty in the eye.

"Yeah, we were kind of in the middle of something here," Misty said, pulling Ash's head back down to her.

They started going at it again.

Oh, well. Guess I'd have to split them up the hard way.

I released Blastoise. "Use Hydro Pump on them."

Blastoise smirked, readying his pipes.

Ash and Misty were still making out, until they got drenched with an immense blast of water, flushing them both away from each other.

Wicked!

Misty came up to me and knocked me upside the head.

"Ow!" I yelled, returning Blastoise.

"You stupidhead! What was that for?"

"To split you guys up."

Ash came over to us, dripping wet, and glared at me. "Okay, what do you want?!"

"Your help."

- _Leaf's Journey-_ -

"Psst! Leaf! Wake up!" I said ten minutes later.

"Go away, Gary, I need to sleep."

"What you NEED is to get UP and train your Pokemon."

"It's the middle of the night, Gary! Get out!"

"No can do, Slakoth! This is the best time to train, because you'll be so focused on going back to sleep that you'll want to do the best you can and get out of there."

"Zzzz…"

"Leaf!" I banged on the bed.

Bang. Bang. Bang. Bang. Bang. Bang. Bang. Bang. Bang.

"WHAT!" Leaf yelled, flying into a sitting position. I grabbed her, flung her over my shoulder, and took her Pokemon with me.

She pounded my back.

"Gary! Put me down! NOW!"

- _-Leaf's Journey_ -

I dropped her on the grass.

"Okay, now you've made me mad!" She threw a punch at me.

I held her wrist and released Flora.

"Number one. Let's train your Pokemon on defense." I released her Abra as well.

"What are you doing, you-!" Leaf started glowing green, and the lake waters started splashing.

"Calm down, Leaf. Now. I'm going to order one of your Pokemon, and you order the other one."

"No! I don't want to train!"

"Ace Trainer…"

Leaf looked at me. She sighed, and stopped glowing.

"Fine. Abby, I choose you." Flora started whimpering.

"Calm down, Ivysaur. We're gonna switch later."

"But, Gary, how are we going to train Flora against Abby? Flora's part poison, so Abby has an advantage."

"I know."

She looked at me in confusion.

"That's how Ash and I got so strong; we trained our Pokemon against its weaknesses. I'm also going to train your Pidgeotto against electric types. Let's start. Order your Pokemon, but start with weaker attacks."

"Okay. Abby, use Psybeam!"

Abra sent psychic rings at Ivysaur. I readied myself.

"Now, I'm going to teach your Pokemon a new strategy. Ivysaur, could you use your leaves or vines to block the attack?"

"Saur?"

"Like this…" I whispered to her.

"Saur!"

The rings came, and Ivysaur suddenly released vines from her back, and started spinning them to form a shield-fan. The psychic rings came, and the wind from the spinning vines blew them back even faster, and they struck the Abra in the face.

"WHOA!" Leaf exclaimed. "That was amazing!"

"Yes, Leaf, it was. Now, I'm going to show you a few more examples, and then you're going to try some on your own. Okay, a stronger attack this time."

"Abby, Confusion!"

The pink glow surrounded Ivysaur.

"Now, this might seem impossible to get out of, but just see what I do. Ivysaur, Use your vines to go into the air!"

It took a while for Ivysaur to get the hang of it, but when she did, she managed to make a fan with her vines again, and lifted into the air. Gradually, she got faster, until she was able to break free of the Psychic hold of the Abra. She then flopped to the ground and started stumbling around.

Leaf groaned. "Great, she's confused."

"Not to fear! She's confused, right? So if we tell her to hit Abra, she'll hit herself!"

"Huh? Gary, speak English!"

"Ivysaur, hit yourself!"

The Ivysaur stumbled around, until it reached the Abra and slapped it with its vines.

"What?"

"Leaf, reverse psychology. If I told it to attack, it would just hit itself. So, I tried the other way round! Switch time!"

I switched the Pokemon and healed them both.

"Right, Leaf! Since I have Abra now, it should be a bit easier because of the type advantage."

"You think. First attack's mine."

She seemed to concentrate for a moment, and Ivysaur shot out sharp, pointed C-shaped leaves that flew straight past Abra.

"Smart, Leaf! Telecommunicating with your Pokemon!"

I waited for a while. "Abra, on my mark, hold the objects behind you in psychic suspension."

Sure, there was nothing behind us, but I knew what I was doing.

Wait for it…

Ready…

"Now!"

Abra released a psychic blast from behind her, and when she looked, burnt C-shaped leaves lay on the floor.

"Aw, man! I didn't think you'd see that one coming!" Leaf whined.

"Leaf, you have to think outside the box. I've dealt with trainers who actually think they can outsmart me. You'll have to do better than that. Watch this."

I spoke to the yellow Pokemon in front of me. "Now, I need you to manipulate what is around you, okay? You don't have to use pure psychic energy. Try lifting the water or using the ground to your advantage."

"Ra!"

"Okay, Abra, attack!"

A spiral of wind, enveloped in pink, emerged from the Abra. It flew at Ivysaur rapidly.

"Now, Leaf, I need you to defend with a unique strategy!"

Ivysaur waited for a bit, then proceeded to extend its vines to a tree branch and haul itself up.

Abra pursued. Ivysaur shot some leaves at it to slow it down, then swung right above its head.

It jumped on the Abra's head, and the spiral followed.

Yes… it was going to hit the Ivysaur…

At the last nanosecond, however, it moved.

And the wind hit the Abra.

"Oh, come on!"

"Flora, I need you to surround Abby with leaves and gradually close in!"

I gritted my teeth. "Make a psychic shield."

The leaves began to swirl, but the Abra surrounded itself with psychic energy, and slowly pushed outward, disintegrating the leaves. As it did so, Leaf's Pokedex gave a 'ping' sound.

"Abby! You've reached level 23!"

"Abra!"

And then it started to glow.

Huh. It had been a really long time since I had experienced this, because all my Pokemon were fully evolved.

The Abra grew to about 3'9", got a tail striped with red, a star in the middle of its forehead, and a spoon in its hand.

When the glowing stopped, it shouted, "KADABRA!"

"Abby! You evolved!" Leaf squealed, running over to it and throwing her arms around it.

"Ka!"

I clapped my hands.

"Very good, Leaf. Now the training's just going to get more intense. Kadabra, I'll need you to use electricity and ice." I released her Pidgeotto. "Let's get started."

"Gary…."

- _Leaf's Journey_ -

About 30 minutes later, the Ivysaur was on level 29, the Pidgeotto at level 26 and the Kadabra at level 28.

We sat down to relax after a bit. I had to say, the midnight air was refreshing.

"Gary?" I turned to look at her. "Thanks."

"No problem."

"How did it feel when you were leaving home?"

"Um… normal, why?"

"I'm sure it must have been really good for you. You left with people wishing you luck, and actually believing that you could become whatever you dreamed, realistic or not."

"Leaf…."

"No, no, it's fine."

A serene silence ensued.

"What are you getting me for my birthday? It's tomorrow, you know."

"Oh, I know. Of course I know, Leaf; I'm your best friend." I took her hand, which was completely covered by mine. "I'll never forget you, and I'm pretty sure you won't forget me."

Bullshit. She was growing up. By the time she turned 16, I'd probably be stuck in the friend zone, and she'd be ranting about another guy, and… and…

I'd have to live with that for the rest of my life.

"Of course not, Gary. You've been with me through everything." She squeezed my hand reassuringly, sending sparks through it. "I'll never forget you. Even when I die."

"So you're saying that you only care about me because I've been with you through everything? Absorbed all your tears? Crushes? Family problems? Like I'm a sponge?"

"Um… yes?"

I removed my hand from hers. "So you don't even think that it was fate for us to meet? That if I hadn't moved to Pallet, we wouldn't have met any other way?"

"Gary?"

I bored through her. "Answer me."

"Of course we'd still have met, Gary. You're the best thing that's ever happened to me, and I can't even imagine a life without you in it. You're everything to me. For thirteen years out of my fourteen ones, we've always been with each other. No one could say 'Leaf' without saying something about 'Gary' or vice versa. We're Gary and Leaf. Leaf and Gary. We literally can't survive without each other. We'll be together for _ever._ "

I looked at her with hopeful, shining eyes. "Do you really want that for us?" _Did this mean…_

"That's why we'll always be bestest friends. Right?"

Oh.

"Right," I echoed. "Bestest friends."

She hugged me tight. Was it supposed to hurt this bad?

Hold on, I remembered something!

"Leaf." I pulled away. "You know how you're a psychic, right? How about we enlist someone to train you to be the best psychic you can be?"

"That would be great, Gary! But… who?"

"Just wait here."

I walked a little distance away, then brought out my cell phone.

"Yes, Gary?"

"Hey! Um, I'm gonna need your help in training Leaf. Yes, she's found out, and could really help us out. Herself included. How fast do you think you can get here?"

"Boo," a voice whispered in my ear.

"Very funny, Sabrina," I said, cutting the call and turning around. "Please tell me HOW you're gonna get here next time.

"I try. Where's Leaf?"

"Over there. I'm gonna head inside now…"

"Be on your way, Gary. Get out."

 **Sabrina**

Hm. This Leaf girl has a lot of talent and potential, and immense power. She could become something great. But I might need Karen's help. I sent a telepathic message to her, and she appeared at my side.

We both nodded.

Right… Let's make a legend in the history of Psychics.

 **Leaf**

"Gary!" I yelled after him, but he was already in the door.

Great.

Two women were walking toward me. Was that Salina? Yes, I could recognize it from the glowing pink eyes. As for the other lady, I didn't know who she was.

"Hello, Leaf." She said to me.

How the hell did she know my name?

"Okay… Hi, Salina, and who are you?" This young woman had long silver-blue hair, her eyes the same color, and looked a few years older than me. She was very pretty, but had a mysterious, _dark_ aura about her.

"Now, Leaf, it's rude to point," Salina said, and my pointed finger returned to my side of its own accord. "And it's Sabrina."

I looked at her in awe. "Did you do that? I wanna do it too!"

"Yes, I did. Karen here," she gestured to her pretty agemate, who smiled politely at me, "is a user of Dark-Type Pokemon, and uses Dark Type magic herself. She will help you in the training that we are going to commence."

My head started pounding. "Can I go to sleep now?"

"Absolutely not! We have a lot to do!" Karen clapped. "Now! I will project a supernatural object, and you must tell me what it is."

She did some movements with her hands and waited. I couldn't see anything.

"What? I can't see anything."

"Look with your mind's eye, Leaf. The mind is the most important thing to psychics."

I looked again, and tried as hard as I could to concentrate. As I did so, I could see a green ray come out of my forehead and outline the object.

"Is it a box?"

"Excellent, Leaf. Now tell me. What enabled you to see it?"

"A green ray shot out of my forehead."

"Splendid! That means your mind is warmed up and ready. It's been officially activated for whatever Psychic activities you'll carry out. And remember this. Just like with Pokemon, Psychics are weak against people who use Dark magic, like hex maniacs and myself. There are also a few human Ghost users, but it's very uncommon. Now, that activity was just a warm up. Sabrina will take over now."

"Now, Leaf, we're going to begin with talking to Pokemon. Release all your Pokemon, please."

I released them all. Sabrina inspected them carefully.

"You already have a telepathic communication with your Ivysaur and Kadabra, but how about the Pidgeotto? Try it."

Pidgeotto came in front of me.

I tried to send a message into his head, and like I did with my other Pokemon, it worked perfectly.

"Otto!"

"Interesting. Moving on! Healing Pokemon. Heal the Pidgeotto."

I looked at my Pokemon blankly.

"Um… how am I supposed to do that?"

Sabrina sighed. "Karen, please poison it."

Karen looked at Pidgeotto, and he glowed purple, crying out in pain.

"Leaf! You have to heal your Pokemon, or it will die!"

"WHAT?!"

"Human sorcery is more potent than Pokemon Sorcery. Hurry! Picture a healthy Pokemon in your mind."

I began to panic. "I can't…. I …"

Pidgeotto looked at me with pain filled eyes.

I closed my eyes, and pictured my Pidgeotto, flying happily.

"There, Leaf. Now stretch out your arms toward your Pokemon."

I did as instructed. Pidgeotto let out a loud cry of agony.

"Focus on transferring health from your soul to his. Wash out all casualties."

I did so. I felt all the energy leaving me, and when I opened my eyes, my hands were glowing green and sending out green energy to Pidgeotto, who it was wrapped around. Slowly, Pidgeotto got better, until it was healed completely.

When I was done, I collapsed on the ground in a heap, panting. Man, that took a lot out of me.

"Leaf, healing Pokemon takes a lot of energy out of you, but when you get used to it you can do it with minimal energy."

"Uh-huh…."

"Up, Leaf! We have a lot to do!"

"She's right." Karen's energy, which was dark purple, surrounded me and levitated me into a standing position. "You need to learn how to attack."

"But let's do levitation for now." Sabrina said. A bag appeared in her hand. She pulled out different items from it.

She set a glass cup on the ground in front of it.

"Leaf, stretch out your hand."

I did so.

"Try lifting the cup." I tried.

Nothing happened.

"Hmm. Maybe you need to apply more energy. Here," she levitated a massive rock in front of her.

"Try this."

Wait… WHAT?

"Do I look like a damn Machoke to you?!"

"Calm down, Leaf. Just try."

I tried again. It didn't work.

I threw up my hands in exasperation. "Why—"

The mini-mountain, which was taller than the Pokemon Center, flew in the air.

"WHOA! Did I do that? That wasn't me, was it?!" I watched the stone. It was going to land on… "KAREN! Watch out!"

Karen didn't even look up. The rock stopped right above her head, enveloped in dark purple.

"Honestly, Leaf, be more careful. You might kill someone." She flung the rock away.

"Okay, I think I'll just try the cup."

I looked at it and concentrated. Until my head hurt.

It lifted a little, glowing green.

"WAIT! Everybody hold on, I'm doing it…" The cup went higher and higher.

I started dancing.

"Wait, Leaf! You mustn't lose…"

The cup fell and shattered.

"…focus. Try again."

This time, I lifted the pieces with ease, and managed to fix the cup.

Karen stepped forward. "You're gonna have to try to collect things from my psychic hold."

She outstretched her hand, and Pidgeotto became engulfed in a purple light and began lifting off the floor, going towards Karen.

"Struggle with me, Leaf!"

I stretched out my hand too and tried to pull my Pokemon back.

Pidgeotto flashed green for a second, then went back to purple.

"Harder, Leaf!"

I concentrated harder and channeled more energy into my hand. Pidgeotto began to vary between purple and green.

"Yes, Leaf! Regain control of your Pokemon."

I was sweating. Man, Karen was strong. And she still looked as poised and perfect as ever. Not a drop of sweat.

Focusing harder, I pulled Pidgeotto to me.

This went on for about a minute. At last, Karen yielded and Pidgeotto became surrounded with green light and slammed into me.

"Ow!"

"Pidge!"

"No time to waste, pretty girl! Last thing!"

I sat up, rubbing my head.

"You are going to learn how to levitate yourself."

"As in… fly?"

"Yes. You're gonna learn how to fly."

"Yeehah!" I yelped, shooting into the air.

Sabrina looked up at me. "Well, that was fast."

"I've always dreamed of flying!"

Karen brought me down. "Settle down, Leaf. We might as well use the remaining time to teach you how to attack using pure psychic energy alone. We'll start the Kineses skills tomorrow."

"Oh come on!"

 **Whew! This took me such a long time to write, don't know why. Kindly review, but no flames please.**

 **Leaf: I'm so excited! I can FLY!**

 **I know, right? I've always wanted to fly, but the closest I can get is to make Leaf do it for me.**

 **Leaf: Hey!**

 **Haha! Good night, readers!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Hello again, everyone. I managed to squeeze in some update time, but this is quite inconvenient since I'm smack-dab in the middle of examinations. But screw inconvenience! Everything in my life has been inconvenient since the day I was born.**

 **Leaf: Oh, really?**

 **Ugh. *rolls eyes* except you, Leaf.**

 **Leaf: Dinah here does not own Pokemon in any way.**

 **Happy reading!**

 _-Leaf's Conquest-_

 **The next morning: Ash**

Ah! What could possibly be better with the world? Oh, nothing other than the fact that your best friend may possibly get together with your sister, who, by the way, you found out is a psychic, and that you just got yourself a girlfriend that you've been head over heels for the past four years…

Yeah.

"Morning, Mister." Misty, in all her beauty, was coming over to me, her lips making a beeline for mine…

Until I woke up.

"Morning, Mister," a sweet sugary voice was saying, as I groggily opened my eyes. I saw Misty coming over to me.

Ah, what a pleasure to hear Misty's voice first thing in the morning.

"Morning to you too, Missy." I grabbed her waist and pulled her in for a kiss.

Hold on. Misty's waist was not this thick.

"EW! EW! Get off me you creep!" I was hit in the face with… a shoe?

Huh?

"Wha..?"

"Open your eyes, doofus! Wake up!"

I rubbed my eyes groggily to see…

"Gary?"

"Uh, yeah. I just came over to wake you up, but then you…" he shook his head, a horrified expression on his face, "…you try to… to _kiss_ me. When you know full well who I want to kiss…"

I gave him a sympathetic look.

"Hey guys!" A green blur shot across the room. On closer inspection…

Was that Leaf? Already dressed, too.

"Leaf?" Gary asked in disbelief. "How are you doing that?"

Leaf gave him an are-you-stupid look. "Psychic, remember?" She flicked her wrist, and Gary floated into the air, enveloped in a light green light.

I rolled my eyes.

"Hey!" Gary struggled. "Put me down NOW!"

"Your fault for getting me super strict ninnies as teachers."

"Leaf, they're barely older than you. Sabrina's 22, and Karen's 19."

"How do you even know them anyways?"

Gary exchanged a look with me.

"Uh… old friends?"

"Hm." Gary fell on the floor.

"Better get ready, lovebirds." I smiled and tried to edge out of the room.

"GET BACK HERE, ASH!"

Leaf ensnared me in her vice psychic hold. As I floated toward her, my foot hit the 'on' button on the remote.

"I swear, Ash, by this time tomorrow—"

"BREAKING NEWS! BREAKING NEWS! BREAKING NEWS! Team Rocket has been revived by an anonymous individual who simply goes by the initial, 'G'. There have been reports of kidnappings, mutations of Pokemon and forced abduction of Pokemon. Witnesses say that an official Team Rocket HQ has been built in Saffron, breaking down the Silph building for their own purposes, the same being done in Goldenrod City, Johto. An unconfirmed creation of a third DNA Pokemon, allegedly named 'Trinome', the successor of Mewtwo, is said to be going under creation. The master plan of Team Rocket and the purpose of all this is unknown. As for now, residents of the Kanto region are advised to remain calm and not to panic, but the Kanto government has passed a few policies around the region."

Leaf was frozen, but her grip around me was slowly tightening.

"Uh, Leaf…"

"One: All Cantonese indigenes are to retire back to their homes before the Sun goes down. Two: All travelling trainers are to stop travelling, as Gym Leaders will now accept challengers only from their towns and routes nearby. Three: All schooling will stop for now. These rules will remain in place until…"

A messenger quickly whispered something to the news reporter.

"Another breaking story. Team Rocket has declared that they will do whatever it takes to hunt down the three missing Pallet teenagers, Ash, Leaf and Gary, and hold them hostage until their parents give the desired amount of Poke Yen and as much Pokemon as they desire. The parents of these children should remain calm. All cities will remain on the lookout for them. Their whereabouts are unknown. And if those three are watching this, hear me now."

The woman's brown eyes bore into all of us. Leaf's hold on me slackened. Gary looked frustrated, and I was just standing and not knowing how to react to all this.

"You need to leave your location immediately. Team Rocket is spreading their troops all over the Kanto region! Do not go home! DO NOT GO HOME! Don't even stay in Kanto! Take refuge in Johto and move on to other regions from there. Whatever you do, don't stay in Kanto. This is coming from Cerulean Radio Station. Leave—"

BOOM!

When we looked again, the reporter's head was on the floor. There was smoke everywhere on the screen.

"AAGH… Oh my God!" Leaf screamed.

What the hell was going on?!

The next thing we knew, a stern looking Team Rocket member stood at the screen, a grenade in his hand. He was tossing it up and down lightly.

He had dark, slicked back hair and gleaming silver eyes.

"Listen to me. That reporter was useless. Don't try to run from me, Ash Ketchum and Gary Oak. You know full well who I am." That voice.

GOOD LORD,,,

Giovanni!

"UGH! BASTARD!" I flew at the television screen.

"We know where you are right now. Somewhere in Vermilion. We're tracking you. It's time we took some revenge for how you humiliated us years ago; your doom is here."

He walked closer to the screen.

Son of a…

"We will find you. We will hunt you." He sent one last glare at me. "We will end you."

The screen went black.

 **Leaf**

Ash stood there, fuming silently. Misty came up behind him and put her arms around his waist.

Hold on… were they together?

EEEEE! This snake is NOT going to take my brother as well.

"Ash… it's okay."

"No, it's not," he replied immediately. "We need to find those # !&*%$# !#&$."

Okay…

"We just watched them murder someone on screen, Ash." Gary tried to talk sense into him. "And look at Leaf."

He came up to me and wrapped his arms around me.

"There is no way she is going near anything of the sort."

"Fine." Ash's tone was clipped. "She won't."

We all looked at him in confusion.

"You, Misty and I will track them down and shut down the operation AGAIN."

"But what about Leaf?" Misty asked.

When did SHE become my supporter?

"Leaf will take the first ship back to Johto tomorrow morning."

Oh, no he didn't!

"What the hell, Ash? Hell to the freaking NO! There is no way I'm missing out on this."

Ash looked at me like there was a worm growing out of my head. "Leaf, have you gone insane?! This is not a fun adventure. You can continue your journey in Johto."

"NO, Ash. I'm staying with you. I haven't come this far for nothing. I haven't left Mom for nothing. And hell, I haven't stayed with you for nothing, Ash! And I'm not about to leave Gary either!"

"So I'll come with her."

"No." Ash rubbed his forehead. "We need Gary with us."

"Then you need me too!"

"Leaf, you are going to Johto, and that's FINAL. You're not nearly as strong as any of us."

"Then what's it gonna be, SIR?" I yelled. "I'm sure as hell not leaving Gary here, or you, or even MISTY, to face that… that… THING!"

I pointed at the screen. A stray tear rolled down my cheek.

"Did you see that? He killed that woman on the spot. No hesitation! No sympathy! So freely, like he was taking a walk with his Pokemon! It makes me wonder what he's gonna do to you!"

I was crying by now.

"That's what you wanna go up against? I'm doing it with you."

I sniffed.

"You are INSANE. You are CRAZY if you think for a second that I'm going to actually _leave you here_ to face that MONSTER!" I screamed. "Well, I might as well prove how dependable I can be, if you don't even think I can, I don't know, not be a baby."

I stomped towards the door.

"Leaf, don't do anything reckless." Gary said.

"I'm not, Gary! I'm just going to challenge the Gym Leader again to show you all, especially that _thing_ ," I pointed at Ash, "that calls himself my brother, that I'm not the coward you all think I am."

I slammed the door behind me, flinging the S.S Anne Tickets on the floor.

- _The Pokemon Trials-_

I banged on the door.

"OPEN UP!" I yelled. "I need to battle right now."

I was wearing my disguise: a green sunhat, colorful shades and a long pink wig.

"Leaf, what are you doing?"

I turned to see…

"Misty?"

"Hey." She twisted her foot.

"What do you want? And why are you here instead of Gary, and what your boyfriend said?"

"They started arguing about you, so I used the moment to slip out. Look, Leaf, I know I haven't really been treating you well, and I'm sorry."

"I don't have a problem with it. It's just… why? Why did you?"

"To be honest, I thought you and Ash were a bit too close for siblings, that you'd been lying to me, and that you weren't really siblings at all. I thought you liked Ash, and then I got jealous and hostile, and I'm really sorry for that."

"It's okay, Misty. Ash helped you confirm that, right?"

"Yep."

I thought for a moment. "Why don't we start over?"

"Yeah!"

"Cool. Let's start by you watching me take out this Gym with a flying type Pokemon."

"I'd like to see that. And Leaf, I'll talk to Ash, try to change his mind if Gary doesn't."

"Thanks, Misty."

We entered the Gym. It looked the same, albeit quieter.

"Hello? Lt. Surge?" I called out. "I'm here to challenge you!"

Still silence. Where was he?

After a few minutes, a sweaty lieutenant jogged out from the back of the Gym.

"Oh, a match? Now?" He stretched. "Y'know, I was in the middle of a workout, but my Pokemon could do with a workout as well."

He peered at me.

"Say, you look familiar. Exactly like a girl that challenged me yesterday, and failed. It's just your hair. And your eyes…"

I removed the sunglasses stylishly, tentatively.

"Exactly the same too! How can I be sure you're not her?"

I smiled sweetly. "Well, that can be explained, sir. I'm her twin sister."

He leaned back, stretching once more. "Oh, that makes sense. You're just as puny as her too." He looked at Misty. "Misty? You know this girl?"

"Nice of you to acknowledge my existence, Surge," Misty remarked, rolling her eyes. "Yes, I know her. She's Ash's sister too."

"Really!" He looked me up and down. "I can see it. You have the same nose, lips, eye shape, facial structure…"

"Can we just start this already?" I walked to my side of the battleground.

"Alright then." Surge walked to his side, and Misty went to the audience stands. "Two on two sound good?"

"Yeah." I knew the Pokemon I was going to use.

A screen appeared with Lt. Surge's Pokemon and mine, and the levels.

"Magnemite, let's give her a shocking performance!" A grey Pokemon came out with two magnets on its sides.

"Mite!"

I whispered something to my Pokemon before sending it out.

"Pidgeotto, go!"

"Otto!"

"Hm. Same Pokemon too." Surge nodded. "Do you really have no idea what kind of Gym Leader I am? Magnemite, shock wave!"

I smirked.

"You are so going down." I muttered. I sent a telepathic message to Pidgeotto.

 _Ready, Pidgeotto? Attack on my mark._

The wave went at blinding speed, hitting Pidgeotto on the spot. It would have fainted right there and then.

But it didn't. That was an illusion.

A powerful gust of wind came up behind the Magnemite and slammed it into the wall, and its health went down by half.

"SON OF A…" Surge looked at me. "How did you do that? You didn't even say anything!"

"I know. My Pokemon are well trained." Pidgeotto landed in front of me. "I learn from the best."

"Magnemite, thundershock!"

What?

Pidgeotto received the full force of the attack, his health going down by a quarter.

Oh no he didn't!

"Pidgeotto, you good?"

"Pidge!"

"Great. Now here's what I need you to do." I communicated my plan.

"Wait… are you sending messages to its head?" Surge asked. I didn't answer.

"Okay, then. Sky Attack!" Pidgeotto came barreling towards Magnamite.

"OH, no. Magnemite, this one's gonna take you out. Explosion!"

IT did so, Pidgeotto flickering out of existence. When the smoke faded, Pidgeotto stood in front of me, quite unharmed.

"Okay, cut the crap, princess. What are you doing and how?"

"I don't reveal my secrets." I calmly stated, sneering. "Send out your next Pokemon."

His face was red! Man, this was hilarious!

"Voltorb, you're up next!" He released a Pokemon that looked like a PokéBall, and was crackling with electricity.

"No time to waste, Voltorb! Charge!" It seemed to absorb energy from thin air.

"Pidgeotto, let's go easy on him! Wing Attack!"

It went at Voltorb with its wings spread wide. Voltorb's health went down a little.

"Charge up, Voltorb! Big Time!" it took in a huge amount of electricity.

Wow. If this was all it was gonna do, this battle was mine.

"This is gold! Pidgeotto—"

"DISCHARGE!"

Pidgeotto, before it could land a move, was scorched thin by the massive blast of energy from the Voltorb.

When the smoke cleared, Pidgeotto lay on the floor, burnt black.

"Otto…"

"IT's okay," I said, walking over to it and petting it gently. "You did your best, and that's all that matters. You're a flying type and you actually managed to faint an electric type and injure another one? You're amazing. We'll win this battle for you. Rest up." I returned it, and grabbed another one.

"Let's win this." I released it.

"Interesting, lass. No type advantage or disadvantage. A battle of pure strength alone."

"Yes. Immense strength. Do your worst, Lt. Surge, we'll win."

"In that case, I'm switching out my Pokemon."

"Hey! It's two on two!"

"Calm down, lass. I won't use Voltorb again. Instead I'll use…"

He released a pokemon that looked like the previous one, but larger and with the colors reversed.

"Its evolution?!"

"Yes. I want to see how strong you really are, puny lass."

"Oh, you'll regret ever calling me puny." I looked at my pokemon, who stared back at me with glowing pink eyes. I could feel the psychic energy rolling off it in waves. "Let's beat this guy, Abby. Psychic on yourself!"

Abby floated in the air.

"Electrode! Use Volt Tackle!"

"Shield, Abby!" A pink shield formed around her, and the electric blast dissolved into thin air.

 _Use Extrasensory, followed up by psychic on the ground!_

"Kad!" The Electrode's body twisted in an awkward way, and its health went down by a quarter. Then Abby slammed on the ground, and several large rocks coated in steel rose out of the ground, each glowing pink. They flew at the Electric Pokemon at a blurring speed, crashing into it and reducing its health vastly. It had only a fraction of health here.

 _Abby, I won't direct you from here Do what you think is best._

Abby looked at me, our psychic bond strengthening, and nodded.

She flew high in the air again, and used her psi to knock the Electrode to the ground. Then, at a blinding speed, she dived down and struck the ground, a large crack appearing and beginning to shake.

An earthquake! Man, this pokemon was smart. The Electrode fainted immediately.

Lt. Surge looked speechless, as was Misty who looked awe struck.

He swallowed his pride and came over to me.

"I have to say, Lass, I was not expecting that. I didn't think you would actually win! And in such a spectacular way! And I have to tell you." He squatted to my height. "Only 1.2% of the people who come here can actually win Electrode, and that's why I don't use him so much. But when you took down my Magnemite with your flying type, I knew you were something special, kid. And I knew you could match up to my strongest pokemon, but not to actually beat it!" He laughed bitterly, pressing something into my hand. "Take this, kiddo. You've earned it, as well as my respect."

I looked in my palm. Badge number three.

I smiled up at him. "Thanks. And one more thing." He looked at me expectantly.

"The name's Leaf Green Ketchum."

The look on his face when I walked out with Misty was one I would never forget.

- _Leaf's Conquest_ -

"What? His wing is broken?"

"Yes, miss. I'm sorry. If you want him to heal faster, he'll have to stay with us."

"No thanks. I'll just take him with me."

We left the counter.

"So, Leaf, how come you didn't tell me you could battle like that?" Misty asked. "And Ash was with me the whole night, so does that mean…"

"Yes, Misty. Gary trained me."

"AAAAAH!"

I smiled. "DO you want to go see what they're doing?"

We headed back to the room. As I entered, I saw Gary watching TV and Ash eating a burger. When they saw me, they rushed over and enveloped me in a hug.

I pushed them away. "What? Want to remind me how much of a baby I am?"

"That's the thing." They exchanged a look. "We've decided to let you stay with us."

"But only if you have either me, Gary or Misty with you."

Yay! I jumped on Ash's back. "Thank you thank you thank you!"

Ash, laughing, pried me off his back. "It's okay, Leaf."

"Why don't we go to the S.S Anne's party?" I picked up the tickets. "Bill gave these to me."

Gary's eyes narrowed. "Bill?"

Was he… jealous? I decided to test him. "Yeah! The young handsome guy who gave this to me. VERY handsome actually."

"Really…" he trailed off, striking a perfect thinking pose. Sexy…

"Anyway. Let's go to the S.S. Anne."

 _********20 minutes later, 8:43 a.m**************_

"Tickets, please?" The man at the entrance said. We gave him four tickets.

"Your room's Cabin 2. Welcome to the S.S. Anne."

"Thanks."

We entered the boat. Wow! Just the hallway of the ship was exquisite. How much did Bill pay? Well, he was famous. I checked my savings. 83,700 Poke Yen. Not bad. Oh, and birthday money was coming tomorrow! Lucky me!

The hall had a cool, plush nude colored carpet, with top-class air conditioning, making the place chilly. Beautifully crafted lanterns and scented candles adorned the chocolate-brown walls, along with stunning classical paintings enframed in smooth wood. The hallway glowed a dim yellow, because there were no fluorescent lights anywhere, just the candles and lanterns providing light.

Man, we looked really out of place with our ragged travelling clothes. Mm. I would buy once we got to Celadon. We weren't going to lavender town for now, as we would have to pass Rock Tunnel, and I seem to have life-threatening experiences inside caves, so… no.

We reached our room, which had Cabin 2 painted in delicate calligraphy on the dark brown door in gold. As we entered, Misty gasped.

I didn't blame her. It was even prettier than the hallway.

As we entered, a long way in front of us was a ceiling to floor glass window with a balcony, offering a perfect view of the sea. The room was painted a soft caramel color, peppered with different ribbon designs in red. The four eds were red with gold duvets and crimson pillows stacked on top of each of them, about 7 on each bed. And… was that a sweet cinnamon smell? Amazing.

The bathroom was at the right of the room and looked to be about the same size, and I thought I spotted a Jacuzzi. Pots of flowers were at different sides of the room, and a huge golden chandelier hung from the ceiling. The light coming in was from the window.

"Well," Ash remarked. "Bill has really outdone himself this time."

Yes, Ash. Oh yes he has.

 **Tell me what you think, please! And if you have any cool ideas for this story to liven it up a little, I would love to know. PM or review if you want, and your idea might be in the next chapter.**

 **Bye now!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Hello, everybody. I know I've been absent for the past few weeks, and you're all super-mad at me for not updating. Well, I have a good excuse: I've been really sick for about a month now, and it seriously escalated not too long after my last update. But I know you all don't care, so I'm just gonna stop rapping now.**

 **Disclaimer: If I owned Pokemon, Brendan would be in the anime and there'd be a love triangle.**

* * *

*********************** _Leaf's conquest****************************_

 **Leaf**

"Leaf? You are the best room picker I have ever met."

"Um, thanks? If that's supposed to be a compliment…" I scratched the back of my neck. "Besides, Misty, I didn't buy these tickets."

"Really?" Gary eyed me suspiciously. "How'd you get them, then?"

"Bill gave them to me."

"When did you get them?"

"When I escaped from the hospital room in Cerulean."

"How did he give them to you?" He rubbed his chin.

Oh no! Now I was blushing and stuttering.

"You say it like it's a bad thing…"

"Did you do anything inappropriate?"

"GARY! What is the matter with you? It's my job to be overprotective."

"I'm not being overprotective, Ash. I'm just curious."

"If you say so…"

I heard a banging noise behind me, and when I looked, a French-looking waiter, a little older than me, was standing there with a steaming tray full of lobsters, shrimps, chicken and other mouthwatering delicacies.

Would this be the treatment we were getting? YUM-MY!

"Ooh, that looks delicious!"

"Bonjour, mademoiselle. Tu es tres belle. Aimes-tu les aliment ici?"

What joy!

"OUI!" I reached for the food, but was bumped out of the way by Ash, and picked up by Gary.

That's funny. It was like little sparks were sizzling on my body.

"Leafy? You know French?"

"Of course, Gary! Mom made Ash and I take lessons when we were younger, since we both want to travel around the world. And Kalos is part of the world, so…"

"Hn."

"Touts les personnes!" The waiter, said, placing the food on the table. "Cette nuit, un grand bal aura lieu avant le départ du navire dans deux jours, pour célébrer la belle région de Kanto et ses habitants magnifiques," he finished.

I translated for everyone, "This night, a grand ball is being held before the ship departs in two days' time, to celebrate the beautiful region of Kanto and its stunning inhabitants."

The guy looked at me. He had pretty purple eyes.

"J'ai hâte de vous voir là-bas, jolie petite mademoiselle." _I look forward to seeing you there, pretty little miss._ He grabbed my hand in both of his and kissed it.

Aw… I blushed, closing my eyes.

Then I heard a thump, and when I opened my eyes, the man was being choked by…

"GARY! What is your problem? Release him!"

"Give me a good reason. I feel like pummeling you, you pervert…"

"STOP! You can't just…"

"I CAN. You are watching me do it."

He wasn't gonna listen. I sighed, rolling my eyes, and stretched out my hand. It started to glow green, as did Gary and the waiter.

"LEAF! Put me down."

"When you didn't put the waiter down? Not a chance."

Gary was slowly levitated away from the guy, who landed on the ground softly. He sent me a look of gratitude, then ran out the door. It was then I noticed that Ash and Misty were nowhere to be found.

When the waiter left, I put Gary down, and he immediately came up in my face.

"Whoa, personal space, blondie." I put my hand on his chest.

His nice, strong, built chest…

"What the hell was that, Leaf?"

"What the hell was what?"

"Why did you stop me from pounding that guy?"

I faced him squarely so that we were eye to eye. Well… more like eye-to-chest.

"Why did _you_ overreact like you did, Gary?"

"He kissed you!"

What the hell was this boy playing at? "So what if he kissed me? It was on the HAND, and it was just a polite gesture!"

"Too close for comfort is what it was."

"Are we actually arguing about this right now? What about him kissing me?"

"I don't want anyone to touch you, Leaf!"

"Please, Gary. I already have a domineering, controlling older brother literally breathing down my neck every second of the day!" My voice was rising. His was too.

"I don't need someone else doing that."

"Leaf, you're just gonna let him kiss you like that? Who knows what those lips have touched."

"He's a WAITER, Gary. You actually think I'd stoop so low as to date a waiter whose monthly salary isn't even enough to support me?!" We were both yelling now.

"He touched you, Leaf! He's not allowed to do that!"

I lost it. "WHO are you to tell me who I can and can't touch, huh?! You're not my mom, you're not my brother…"

"But I'm your best friend! Aren't you supposed to regard my decision on everything?" Gary's face was red and flushed from anger.

"No! Only some things. Stuff like who touches me is MY business!"

"I'm not good with it. If I were your boyfriend, it would be my business as well!"

"Well get it through your THICK SKULL that you are NOT MY BOYFRIEND, GARY OAK!" I screamed with all the air in me.

And then Gary's face changed. It went from angry, to shocked, to sad, and then…

Dejected. Hopeless. Like he was wishing for it to happen.

"No." his voice came out low, quiet, and broken. "No, I'm not, and probably never will be. Happy now?"

Sorry?

No, I'm not. It wasn't supposed to escalate to this level. Gary was my best friend for life. He was the Volbeat to my Illumise. The Butterfree to my Beautifly. The Latios to my Latias. We were like peas in a pod.

"No, I'm not." He was looking at me, softly, and… were those tears in his eyes?

Gary's tough. I very rarely see him cry… this was all my fault.

I walked over to him and tried to hug him, but he pushed me away…

What?

"Gary…" Amazing! Now my voice was sad and broken too. Note the sarcasm.

I moved closer to him, until we were practically sharing the same breath. I looked up at his warm golden eyes, which were focused on my lips.

Really? I heard a boy only does that when he seriously likes a girl. But come on. Gary loved me, very much, but not in THAT way.

Whoo… my hormones were on fire. I started to sweat.

I attempted to hug him again, but he moved back. I stepped close to him again.

Okay, now I know that he's seriously wounded by what I said. He's NEVER refused anything from me before.

"Gary?" Now, I was sure my face was redder than his.

I reached up my hand to stroke his cheek, but he caught my hand before it could touch him, and kissed my palm softly.

BBBBBRRRRRRR! Ouch… a bit too much of the electricity there, Raikou. Give me a break.

He removed his lips. NO! I love the feel of you on my skin, Gary!

Okay, that sounded really wrong… good thing it stayed in my head.

"Leaf…" Gary locked his eyes with my emerald ones. He looked confused, but shook it off. "There has always been more meaning behind every 'I love you' I've ever said to you, and there always will be."

Huh? Before I could comprehend what he said, he was at the door.

"I'm going to explore the ship for a while. Bye, Leaf." He left.

I noticed that he didn't call me Leafy like he always did.

I sighed, flopping down onto one of the posh beds and drifting off to sleep, even though it was only afternoon.

Zzzzz…

"Leaf!"

Oh no! "Yes, Karen?"

"Up! We have mounds of training to do!"

"But we have a party!"

"Which starts in the next seven hours. We can do six hours, then you can get ready."

"But I wanna sleep…"

A dark purple glow started to surround me, and I was standing straight on the ground a few seconds later.

I noticed Sabrina was there too. "Good!" she said, walking closer to me. She looked into my eyes and frowned. "Leaf, do you have a crush on someone? The green in your eyes is swirling around. This is the effect that love interests have on psychics."

I scoffed. "I don't like anyone," I lied through my teeth.

"Really?" Karen raised a skeptical eyebrow. "Sabrina, let's have a look-see, shall we?"

They looked at my forehead for some seconds, then looked at me again, Sabrina with awe, Karen with interest.

"Hmm. You like a very handsome young fellow, and it's… Gary! And he was here a few minutes ago."

I shrugged, grinning sheepishly. "You know me too well."

"Oh, Leaf!" Sabrina cupped my face. "You like Gary! That's so cute! And I can tell you REALLY like him. You'll be together in no time!"

I shook my head, turning away. "No… he's never gonna like me like that…"

But after what he just said before leaving? I think there's a teeny tiny chance of him liking me.

NO! It's too good to be true.

Karen and Sabrina discussed quietly, and I thought I could make out 'bet' and 'in the next two weeks', but I wasn't sure…

 **Sabrina**

"Bet you 40 Poke Yen they'll be together in the next two weeks," Karen whispered to me.

"Hah! One," I challenged.

How I wished I could tell Leaf that Gary was crazy about her. Head over heels.

Ah, young love! I remember when it was like that with me and Brycen.

Well, I'm still young, I'm twenty-two. Karen's nineteen. But Brycen broke up with me two years ago, so there wasn't any hope of us reuniting. Said he broke up with me because I lost my cool, collecting attitude.

I mean, come on! I know he's an Ice type Gym Leader, but he needs to learn to accept people for their bubbliness, or he'll end up with someone like Candice or Glacia.

 **Karen**

This Leaf girl is quite an interesting character.

 **Leaf**

Huh. Weird.

"Anyway, let's get started, Leaf! Off to the deck!" Sabrina's hands became engulfed in a pink glow. I blinked, and we were on the verandah of the ship. No one was there, and I could see the room.

"Leaf, today you are going to be learning the Kinesis powers."

Huh? "Kinesis?"

"Y'know, teleportation, telepathy, telekinesis, reading people's minds, firing energy blasts, hypnotizing people, manipulating them to feel a certain emotion, creating illusions, changing your appearance etc. You already know how to paralyze people, so there's no need to go there." Karen explained.

"Excuse me? ALL THAT? IN FIVE HOURS?" I questioned in disbelief.

"Hey, I learnt mine in three! Ha-ha!" Sabrina laughed. "Anyway, we're starting with teleportation on yourself. Positions, please. Now, Leaf."

She put an arm around my shoulder and pointed to a mat a few feet away from us.

"I want you to teleport yourself over there."

"How exactly am I supposed to do that?"

"Almost the same way you levitate stuff. In your mind, picture yourself standing on the mat. You'll need to close your eyes now, but when you get used to it, you'll be able to do it with your eyes open."

I closed my eyes and pictured a happy Leaf, standing on the clean red rug in her trendy white trainers.

A second later, that thought was a reality.

"Excellent, Leaf. Now teleportation on objects." That went well too.

Okay, this was too easy. "I know something super hard is gonna come after teleportation on people, so I'd better just start ASAP."

I looked at Sabrina, my eyes glowing light green, and she teleported a few feet away from me.

"You're making wonderful progress," Karen said. "Next, we'll be teaching you how to read minds. This is going to be very hard. Look at me."

I peered at her.

"Leaf, I honestly don't know how to instruct you on this. But first, try reading my mind in any way possible."

I focused on her forehead. How on earth was I supposed to do this?

"Nothing?" Karen asked.

"Nothing."

She sighed heavily. "Okay, I just remembered something. There are two ways of mind-reading. One is by seeing into the victim's mind itself, and the other is by hearing the thoughts being spoken in the person's voice. Since you can't seem to get the first one, we'll try the second for now. Although how you're going to get images from the person's mind without description will be taught later."

I bobbed my head in understanding.

"We'll need to activate your supernatural sense of hearing first. I'm going to scream now, and tell me if you can hear it."

Karen's eyes glowed a bright purple, but her mouth remained shut. How was I supposed to pick up the sound?

Sabrina stepped in to help. "Leaf. You're going to have to clear out your thoughts, calm down and just _listen._ Close your eyes, stop thinking, and pay attention to any sound you pick up. Listen as hard as you can."

Closing my eyes, I stopped thinking about anything. It took a while to clear my mind from my journey, Team Rocket, getting caught, and Gary. Especially Gary.

"Good, Leaf. Now you need to calm down."

I breathed in and out slowly. In, out. My heart rate slowed. Sabrina's guiding voice faded into the background until it was barely audible.

 _Listen…_

My ears grew warmer and warmer, and Sabrina's voice stopped sounding altogether.

Ah, this was very relaxing.

Silence…

Out of the blue, a shrill, earsplitting, screeching shriek, louder than a thousand thunderclaps, threatened to rip my ears apart.

"AAAAHHH…" I clamped my palms over my ears, my temple throbbing immensely.

 _Leaf!_ Sabrina said to me. _Don't lose focus!_

Uh, that's very hard to do right now, Sabrina!

 _Leaf, you're a psychic. You're gonna experience a lot worse than this. And your ears are still in the process of activating. Once they're fully triggered, the sound will reduce to normal hearing decibels._

So I waited. Ouch, my ears were aching badly.

Eventually, the scream quieted down to a normal sound level.

 _Leaf, if you can hear this normally, it means your ears are activated, and this also enables you to see into other people's minds. This audial version can be used when looking at foreheads is too obvious. You can open your eyes now._

I opened my eyes, the room coming into focus again. Phew!

Sabrina stated: "Next comes energy blasts."

"Oh, I can do that."

She projected a block high in the air. "Leaf, hit this."

I rubbed my hands together, smirking. My pleasure.

Forming two glowing energy balls surrounding my hands, I ran to the block at a high speed, flew up and smashed my hands together on the block, creating a neon green explosion and dissolving the block.

As I landed, I pretended to blow air off my hands, relishing Sabrina's shocked face and Karen's mildly surprised one.

Karen, I'd noticed, didn't like showing emotion.

"Good, Leaf. You've already gotten the hang of that one," Sabrina conjured a clipboard out of thin air. "What else is there to do…" she noticed me staring at the clipboard. "? Oh, you wanna learn how to do this? Come on, you can already. Try."

I depicted a juicy red apple in my mind, and sure enough, when I looked, it lay in my palm. I pictured it disappearing, and when I opened my eyes again, I observed that it had vanished.

"Leaf, come on. We still have a few more things to cover…"

Oh my.

 **Five hours later**

I panted heavily.

"A few? That was like a hundred!"

"Leaf, don't embellish this. We're done. Just transform yourself into Misty and back."

Whoo… I did what she asked, though we'd already learnt it before.

Sabrina smiled in delight. "Today, we've made astounding progress, Leaf. You've earned your rest."

Karen half-smiled. "You weren't half bad."

I sighed in content. Man, I need a shower…

"You'll be having a test tomorrow," Karen suddenly said.

No!

"Karen! Please! I can't! It's my BIRTHDAY… who in the whole PokéWorld has tests on their birthday?"

"You need to be ready, Leaf. A huge challenge is coming your way. I can't tell what it is, but I know it's there. And it's going to happen very, very soon. We have to get you ready as soon as possible. It's going to test everything you've learned."

Aww… wait! I learned hypnosis…

I linked eyes with Karen, mine glowing light green. She became surrounded in a purple glow, with light green at the edges.

"Are you trying to hypnotize me, Leaf? For that alone I'm going to up the difficulty of your test."

"Awww…"

Sabrina glanced at me and smiled. She went up to Karen and put a hand on her shoulder. "Karen, it is Leaf's birthday tomorrow. Don't you think she deserves a break?"

"We've only been training for two days."

"This is getting nowhere." Sabrina rolled her eyes, and wiggled her fingers.

"Of course, Sabrina. Leaf, you can have the next two days free!" Karen immediately said, looking very confused.

Glee! "I can? Thank you so much!" I jumped on her and hugged her.

"Wha… I—" I saw Sabrina glare at her. "… o-of course, Leaf!"

"Yippee!"

 **An hour later**

Gary banged on the door. I knew this because I'd learned diaphanous foresight today.

"Are you girls done yet? The party starts in two minutes!"

Holy crap! Were we that late? I'd been practicing what I'd learnt for the test, and had lost track of time.

Misty, on the other hand, was completely ready. Man, I should've listened to her when she told me to start getting ready thirty minutes ago…

"Yes, we are! At least, I am," she glowered at me, leaving the room.

Great!

Ash shouted, "Leaf, if you're not out within the next twenty seconds, we're leaving, and you'll have to come out to the party yourself."

What? No!

"You can't—"

"Nineteen…"

I sighed; I had no choice. I headed into the bathroom for a shower.

Halfway through, I heard Ash yell, "Leaf, I've given you two minutes now. Gary, Misty and I are leaving." Footsteps plodded down the ship hall.

Great. Making my cameo alone.

When I was done showering and washing my hair, I blow-dried it, straightened it, and stood there in my robe.

A few minutes later, I headed to the room to get ready.

My hair… what do I do with my hair? Having long thick locks was such stress. I pored over it for minutes. Come on, Leaf, time's a-wasting…

I finally decided! I brushed my straightened hair, curled it in large, loose curls, grabbed two thick locks from the sides of my head and did a braid at the back, sitting on top of the rest of my hair. I let out a few curled strands to frame my face.

I think it was called waterfall braid…? No time for that.

I applied minimal eyebrow pencil, dark cherry red lip gloss, eyeliner and mascara. Now for the dress.

Stepping into the dress, I zipped it up, looked in the mirror and… hoooolllllyyy cccrrrraaapppp.

I am never buying stuff from this ship again.

The gown, which was a vivid red, had a sweetheart neckline with off-shoulder straps. However, the neckline went down to just above my belly button, covered in crisscrossed lace. Unfortunately, due to _certain_ _assets_ of mine, the open space was a bit wider than I would have liked it to be. It was very form-fitting, and had wide cutouts at the sides. It was fitted up until the knee, where it flared out into sparkly red pleats.

What a revealing dress! I slipped into the red stiletto heels that came with it, and even with them the gown touched the floor. I put on ruby red earrings and a heavily adorned silver necklace, velvet scarlet elbow length gloves, a burgundy rose in my hair, and I was good to go. Just that the dress was a bit tighter in some places, defining some... features.

I looked at the time. Yikes! I was thirty minutes late. They would've started the main speech by now…

I ran to the ball room, and in heels, it took me a few minutes to locate it. When I did, however, I paused.

Breathed…

Then opened!

As I presumed, a speech was taking place. But when I stepped in, all eyes riveted to me, like I was Cinderella. I could see Ash's, Misty's…

Gary's. All. Over. My. Body. And there goes the electricity again! But it seemed to be turning into… fire?

My heart beat faster, and I started to make a beeline for him, and him for me, when the person with the mic suddenly announced something.

"This is exactly what I mean when I say the Kantonese are stunning, eye-catching majestic people!" The man laughed, coming over to me and dragging me upstage.

"No, I don't…" I tried to say, but the man wasn't listening.

I looked over at Gary, and he'd stopped in his tracks. I understood.

What if Mom was on this ship? In this very hall?

"Um…" I quickly tried to go back downstairs, but the MC wasn't having it.

"Ladies and gentlemen! Give it up for… what's your name, sweetheart?"

"Uh… Leaf."

"Right, Leaf! This little mama over here is Leaf!"

"LEAF?!"

Shit. Holy shit. I knew that voice.

"Young lady, you get down right here this instant! Where is your brother?"

I cringed. "Mom… I can explain."

"I don't wanna hear it!"

The MC looked irritated. "That's all we're gonna hear from our Best Dressed winner! How about we do an… interview backstage, Leaf?" He started to drag me away. On closer inspection, he looked kind of shady…

"Sir! Sir, let me go!" He continued to pull me backwards until we disappeared behind the stage. Try as I might, I couldn't free myself…

"Leaf!" Ash and Gary yelled simultaneously.

"Bring her back!" Misty screamed.

"Excuse me, release my daughter this instant!" Mom and everyone else disappeared from view, and the crowd started going into an uproar.

I stretched to see everything again before being pulled behind the curtains.

I could see Ash and Gary coming over to me to help me.

Yes, please!

But hold on… something black burst through the roof.

Or more like… people dressed in black. Hordes of people in black. With… big red R's on the uniform!

And they were headed straight for Ash and Gary!

I had to help them. I had to try! But I was getting too paranoid to be able to send telepathic messages to them…

How should I? Team Rocket was quickly capturing everyone in the hall.

While I was thinking, a Team Rocket member ran up to Gary and delivered a devastating right hook to his face and pointed a gun to his head, and another put a lasso around Ash's neck and started to strangle him!

No…

"ASH!" I screamed at the top of my lungs.

"GARY! GARY, NO!"

The last things I remember were hearing a deafening gunshot, and something like a sack being put over my head.

Then… black.

 **Yo, readers! There's your chappie for you. Sorry it took so long, though.**


	9. Chapter 9

**Excuse me, everyone. I went to my cousins' for Christmas. That place is amazing! I can't believe how much inspiration I got! My seams are splitting with tons of ideas, and I absolutely cannot wait to share them with you all. Read on, I beseech you!**

 **Disclaimer: Owning Pokemon will be the day that hell freezes over. How I wish it could.**

 **Leaf**

Cracking my lids open, I awakened to a tiny, airless room. It had cardboard boxes scattered around, dark patches on the wall, murky water oozing from the ceiling, and reeked of clammy socks.

I made out shuffling beside me.

"Ash? Gary? Misty?"

Gary came to, groaning I pain, and oh god. On his forehead was a prominent, deep wound, with caked blood down the side of his face.

"Leafy?"

"Gary…" I swallowed. "I really should have…"

"No, no. It's not your fault, Leafy berry."

I giggled, but it soon turned to tears at the state we were in. Gary made to caress my cheek, and that was when I realized that our hands were all bound up tightly in thick, feathery rope.

My temper rose. How dare they, whoever they were?

 **No POV**

"Hey! Who did this to us?" Leaf yelled angrily. No response.

"Show yourself!"

Gary looked at her worriedly. Was she that mad at herself? She wasn't to blame.

"Whoever you are, I want answers. Who are you? Why did you abduct us? What do you want from us?"

"Calm down, Leaf."

"Leaf?" Ash had woken up.

"Gary, if we never get out of here, I will never forgive myself."

"Well, I am sure of one thing." They all looked at Misty, who had roused at last.

"It's Team Rocket. Remember?"

"Yeah…" Leaf said quietly. She'd remembered them ambushing Gary and Ash.

"Well, well, the hostages are awake." A Rocket Grunt strolled casually in front of them, and Leaf's face once more contorted into a snarl.

"Explain. Now, before I do something you and I both regret," she growled.

The grunt laughed in her face, and it took all Leaf had to refrain from damaging her severely.

"Well, you deserve an explanation. Did you ever watch a news report that had the reporter, um… killed? And it said…"

"…that you were going to hunt down the three missing Pallet teenagers? Yeah," Ash cut in heatedly.

"You've got us," Leaf told the grunt angrily. "Let Misty go. Why did you hijack her? She's not from Pallet. She's from Cerulean."

The grunt chuckled, exposing her wrinkly laugh lines. "Well, the reason you were all captured was to hold you hostage. I mean, the strongest Gym Leader, the Champion, and his sister? That alone would get us good money to raise Pokemon for our ultimate mission. But throw in the Gym Leader of Cerulean, who is also a Sensational Sister, and the quid just multiplies. We decided to use that to our advantage."

While the grunt blabbed on and on, Leaf suddenly stared off into space. Or so it seemed…

 **Leaf**

 **(A/N:** _ **Bold Italics= Leaf's words.**_ _Italics= Abby's words._ Normal= Narration or Speech. **)**

 _Leaf! Leaf, can you hear me?_

 _ **Abby?**_

 _Yes, it's me. Don't be fooled. Team Rocket is dumber than I thought._

 _ **How?**_

 _They didn't take your PokéBalls._

 _ **And how will that help?**_

I felt her shaking in her PokéBall angrily.

 _Leaf! I think you have the Champion, the strongest Gym Leader and another strong Gym Leader with you. They have their Pokemon too._

 _ **Okay. But our hands are tied.**_

 _Oh gosh. You're unbelievable, Leaf. I'll leave the rest to you to figure out._

I think she dozed off.

Great! When I really needed help, too.

…

Oh, yeah! Psychic! Duh. Leaf, how could you be so stupid?

 _Guys!_

I spoke to Gary, Ash and Misty. They all perked up.

 _Do NOT look now, but we still have our Pokemon on us. These dullards were too dumb to remove them. Thank God for that._

Gary held back a laugh.

"Hey, scamp! What're you laughing at?"

"Oh, nothing. Just remembering something funny," Gary quickly said.

"Right. As I was saying…"

 _Gary, you idiot! Now, listen. I'm going to untie us, but keep your hands behind your back. Then on my signal, release your Pokemon. Got that?_

They minutely nodded. I put my head down, so that the grunt wouldn't notice my eyes flashing. Concentrating, I felt my ropes loosen and then come off completely. I rubbed my sore wrists.

 _Alright, stage one complete. Now…_

As the grunt blabbed on, I levitated her into midair.

"Hey! Who's doing this?" She screamed. "'s it one of ya?"

"Do we look like wizards to you?" Misty retorted.

"Hn. HEY! PUT ME DOWN! WHOEVER YOU ARE!"

Shit, she was screaming. Not good for us. I created a soundproof shield around her, and she started to bang on it. Ouch, my head.

I signaled to the rest to release their Pokemon. Ash released his Arcanine and Gary sent out his Scizor. Before Misty could send out hers, however, I requested something from her first.

"Um, Misty. Do you perhaps have an Ice-type?"

"Yeah, Dewgong. Why?"

"Could you perhaps encase the grunt in ice?"

"And you can't?"

"I haven't learned elemental control yet."

Misty released Dewgong.

"Dewgong, go! Blizzard!"

Dewgong exhaled a blast of icy air, sheathing the grunt in ice, a look of horror frozen on her face.

"Excellent, Dewgong!"

I had gotten the keys to our cell before the grunt was frozen, so I unlocked the door and we all ran down the hall with our Pokemon trailing us.

Whew, almost out…

Hold up! I felt a nauseating sensation in my stomach. Danger was coming! We rounded a corner…

…only to be surrounded completely by at least two hundred grunts.

"You have got to be kidding me." I mumbled under my breath.

"Uh, Ash?" Gary asked. What now?

"I honestly don't know."

The grunts readied their Pokemon, and the one who seemed to be the leader sadistically smirked at us.

"Prepare to join souls in heaven, prisoners."

Hold up. Were they going to kill us?

"Or should I say, hell."

No, no, no! Now what!

Think, Leaf, think…

The grunts released their Pokemon, who began loading up their attacks. Panicking, I said:

"Uh, guys? You're kind of like the strong ones here…"

"Leaf, we need a strategy. Even if we did our best, they outnumber us. We need to think of something else." Misty informed me.

Uh…

Wait! I've got it!

"Guys! I've got it!"

A Hyper Beam hit us all, making us slam into the wall.

Ash sent out Charizard. "Charizard, Fire Blast. Now, Leaf, what? It better be good."

"I just need to know. What city are we in?"

A ring of fire encircled us, and one flame licked my cheek. Yeow!

"Leaf? Might want to hurry it up…"

"WHAT CITY ARE WE IN?"

"Hold on, I'm checking…."

A hydro pump was headed our way. Yikes!

"Gary?" I asked frantically.

"Celadon! We're in Celadon!"

Celadon…?

"Leaf, come on! We're gonna be knocked out any second!"

I remembered a picture of Celadon Department Store from when I was younger. If it still stood…

"Everyone, hold onto me!"

"Leaf?!"

"Just do it!"

We stood in a circle. Another hydro pump was generated at us. The two would clash…

I closed my eyes, picturing us in front of the large supermarket.

And then… we disappeared from the hideout, which began to swirl in front of us, then faded into a multicolored space?

What is this?

"Leaf! Where are we?"

"I have no idea."

I looked for anywhere we could leave, and at the front I saw a small opening into Celadon City.

"Guys! Look!" Pointing to the hole, I air-swam toward it and enlarged it, stepping out. The others came out after me, and we stood in front of a huge mall, bigger than the one in my mind.

I turned around, and saw… A game corner? Fountain? Hotel? GYM? This city was huge and busy!

I spun around to face my companions, who had nostalgic expressions.

"Guys?" I waved my hands in their faces rapidly. "Where are we?"

Ash put his arm around me, and gestured to the thriving metropolitan.

"Leaf… welcome to Celadon City, Kanto."

- _The PokéWorld Trials Book I-_

 **Gary**

We were sitting on the big king size bed in a room in the hotel. Leaf had been confused as to why the city was so busy so late at night. I checked my watch: 10:49 p.m.

I had to hurry…

"Guys? Sorry, I need to go now."

Leaf looked away, and I remembered that we hadn't properly spoken since that whole S.S. Anne waiter fiasco.

Ash spoke up instead. "Gary? It's so late…"

"Yeah. Bye!"

"But Gary! You're still in your party clothes!" Misty yelled, but I was already at the hotel reception. I ran out of the hotel and toward the Game Corner gift store.

What Pokemon should I get?

I looked at the list. Porygon… no. Abra… already in stock. Growlithe… no fire types needed.

Dratini…hm. Na.

NO, no. Dratini? Perfect! Strong but adorable, large enough to fly, evolves into an amazing species… ideal.

I walked up to the counter. "Sir? I'll take the Dratini."

"That will be 1500 coins."

The weight of what he said hit me like a ton of bricks. I forgot about coins! I had only 500.

Sighing, I went to the Game Corner and sat down. Time to start playing…

 **Leaf**

Gary ran out the door. Misty yelled out something about party clothes, but I was too tired to listen.

I yawned.

"Leaf?" Ash came up to me. "Thanks for getting us out of there. I don't know what we would've done…"

"Nothing, because we'd all be dead." I laughed heartily. "It's no problem, Ash. I'm gonna sleep…""

I entered an inner room and settled on the bed, closing the door.

"Leaf?"

Huh? I looked up and saw probably the most terrifying thing at this point in time.

Sabrina and Karen!

Immediately, I started freaking out.

"Leaf, calm down! We're not training."

I cooled down. Close call.

"Leaf," Sabrina sat down on my bed. "We've decided to cancel the test. Seems like you've had enough challenges already."

"But just to inform you, we'll be learning elemental control next. And it wasn't half bad," said Karen, also sitting by me, "what you did back there. You used your newfound knowledge and power to the max. I'm proud of you."

"I am too."

From Sabrina AND Karen? "Thanks, guys." I hugged them, tightly. I hadn't known them for long, but I could tell we had many good times ahead of us.

After they left, I dozed off to sleep.

- _Leaf's Conquest-_

"Leafy! Wake up!"

Sleepily, I parted my eyelids. Gary was standing in front of me, his clothes rumpled, unruly hair, red and stressed eyeballs.

"Gary?" I asked groggily. "Why are you awake? What happened to you, you look so tired? What do you want? Is something going on?"

"Leafy, calm down." He laughed. "There's something I wanted to say to you…"

"Yes?" What was going on?

The next thing I knew, ice-cold water toppled all over me, followed by a mound of colorful plastic balls.

What the hell?! I leapt out of the bed, shivering, only to turn and see Gary laughing his ass off.

"You dickhead! Why the hell would you do that? I'm going to get a cold!" I yelled at him.

"And why are you laughing?!"

Gary wiped his tears away, then stood looking at me with the huge grin still on his face.

"Happy Birthday, Leafykins."

All my anger evaporated. Aww…

"Really?" I was wide awake now. Gary slowly walked up to me and engulfed me in a bear hug, cuddling me gently. I cuddled back. I would've liked to stay like this for a while, but Gary suddenly took my hand in his.

"Leafy, come on. There's something I have for you."

Shaking my head, I followed him to the hotel roof. When we got there, it looked… normal.

"Ta-da…"

"Gary, I'm sorry, but what am I supposed to be seeing?"

He pointed to a corner. "Look over there."

I looked, and something caught my eye. Was that a PokéBall? I took a step towards it, then turned back.

"Gary?"

"Go ahead, open it."

I smiled at him, then walked towards the PokéBall. I saw the little red button and pushed it. This resulted in a flash of bright light, and I shielded my eyes with my hand, only to hear a cute little whimper. Then…

"Dratini?"

Aww! I walked towards it. It was about twice my height, which was big for a baby Dratini, but seemed to shy away from my touch. I conjured some Oran and Cheri berries in my palm, and offered it to the Dratini. It sniffed, eyeing me with its dark blue eyes, then ate up the berries and attacked me in a Dratini version of a hug. Laughing, I petted its head (which, by the way, was like five times the size of mine) as it nuzzled my neck. I checked its level: level 38. It would evolve soon.

"Gary? There's something wrong."

Said boy, who had been watching us with a slight smile, immediately went on guard. "What? You don't like it? You wanted a different Pokemon? It's sick?"

"No, Gary. It's huge, which is good, but… is it a shiny?"

"Why would you think that?"

"Well, its eyes aren't black. They're navy blue. And… it's pink."

"Wait, seriously?" Gary rubbed his eyes, then came closer for a better look. "I guess I didn't notice. It is night time…"

"Hold on. Gary. How… no, WHEN did you get this Pokemon?"

"Like 10 minutes ago."

"How?"

"Game Corner. I had to play, like, 700 rounds…" he passed out on the floor.

Giggling silently, I teleported him back to the room, then turned back to Dratini.

"Well, Dratini. Let's see your moves. Hmm… Thunderbolt… Dragon Pulse… Flamethrower… Dragon Claw. Not bad! Not bad at all!"

 _Happy Birthday!_

"Huh? Dratini, was that you?" Dratini nodded happily.

"Gee, thanks!"

 _Happy Birthday to you, happy birthday to you! Happy Birthday, Dear Leaf…_

I woke up, for the second time that day, to see a giant chocolate cake in front of my face, with fifteen lit candles sitting on the top.

 _Happy Birthday to you!_

 **No POV**

Looking up, Leaf saw Ash, Misty, Gary, Sabrina and Karen surrounding her bed, and Misty blew sparkles into her face.

"Cough, cough… thanks so much, guys! Lay it low on the glitter, please." She blew out all the candles. "What time is it?"

"It's eight thirty-three. And here," Ash said, handing Leaf a mediocre box. "Open it."

Leaf eyed Ash curiously, untied the red ribbon, and opened the box. Inside it was a neon green card, saying, 'to the world's most annoying but dearly loved baby sister'. Also in the box was a black visor, with white around the edges and a PokéBall on the front, like Leaf's normal hat. This was accompanied by two pairs of wristbands, one red and one black, 100,000 Poke Yen, and a coupon for 10 tubs of chocolate ice cream from BlueBunny.

Leaf was at a loss for words. "Ash…" her mouth hung open. "I don't even know what to say."

"A thank you would suffice, Leaf. The money's from my champion savings, the coupon for your favorite ice cream, the wristbands are for color matching if you ever need to, and the hat… well, I know how much you love your hat, so I decided to get you a different variation, if you ever needed it."

"Thanks, Ash." Leaf held him close. As she settled back down, Misty stepped up.

"Here. It's not much, but it was the least I could do," she said, giving her a large bag. Inside it was a wooden white badge case, a bracelet and necklace set where she could keep her PokeBalls, and a new trainer bag. The bag was quite different from Leaf's normal backpack; it was sort of like a messenger bag, but bigger, and it was a light coffee color. It was made so it could be slung over one shoulder.

"I love this, Misty. Where did you get it?"

"Ha-ha, not telling. Not today, at least."

"Right."

Gary came up to Leaf. "But Gary, you've already given me a present."

"He did?!" Misty screamed, eyes shining. "What was it?"

"A shiny baby Dratini."

Leaf's ears were paralyzed for the next few seconds, and Ash had to carry Misty out of the room. Sabrina and Karen followed.

"Leaf, I got you a photo album…"

She took it, and opened it. Her eyes began to well up. There were pictures of when they first met, Leaf and Gary at school; her, Gary and Ash; her first battle with Gary; her, Gary and Ash licking chocolate ice cream; Leaf wobbling in the air while enveloped in a green light, and lots more. The latest one was Leaf, Gary, Ash and Misty all on the S.S Anne.

"Oh my god…"

"And…" Gary fastened something around Leaf's wrist, her eyes widening.

"My friendship bracelet?! You found it? I've been looking for it for years!"

"Yeah, I didn't know when to give it to you. Mine's here. I'm never wearing it, but it'll always be with me." He fished out a charm bracelet with half a heart on it, and connected it to Leaf's.

It was like joining their hearts.

By now, the tears were rolling uncontrollably down Leaf's cheeks, and she flung herself onto Gary.

"Ahem."

Nothing happened.

"AHEM."

This time, Leaf pulled herself off Gary, to face a waiting Karen and Sabrina.

"Oh…"

"Leaf, I'm waiting for you outside." Gary stood up and left, and Sabrina and Karen sat on either side of Leaf.

"I'm not going to say anything, Leaf," Karen said, though she looked like she was trying to hold back a smile. "Now stop crying, and listen up."

"Karen and I have discovered your psychic channel. This is what we'd like to give you as your birthday present."

They handed Leaf a long… scepter. The body was intricately designed, with swirls and gold and diamonds and jewels and glitter, and attached to the top was a large green spherical emerald with shiny silver swirls on it.

"This, apart from your body, can be used to generate psychic energy, and can be activated by you and only you. It also can conveniently turn into a number of different items, like a sword," it morphed into a sword, "… bow and arrows," it did so too, "…hover board… tablet…" she kept on listing off items, which it successfully turned into.

"Also stuff like cars, ships, planes, pretty much anything. And lastly…"

The scepter… no, MY scepter, Leaf thought, transformed into a ring. The ring was designed like the body of the scepter, and in the center was a deep green emerald with specks of silver, and outlined with rubies. Karen slid it onto Leaf's ring finger.

"… a ring, where it can be kept until it is needed."

Was this actually happening? Leaf honestly felt like this birthday could not get any better.

"Bye, Leaf. Have fun. And no lessons today." They left.

Misty and Ash burst into the room, grinning crazily. "Leaf! We've decided that since you want to be an Ace Trainer, it's time you started looking like one! Come on, we need to get to the department store!"

Laughing her ass off, Leaf was practically knocked off the bed. Turns out this birthday could get better.

 **I am not nearly done, readers. The second update is going to come VERY soon… or maybe I should make it January 1** **st** **. Y'know, New Year Special Update. Happy New Year, guys! One of my New Year Resolutions is to cook up amazing stories for you!**

 **Byeeee and happy holidays!** **:P**


	10. Chapter 10

**Happy New Year. :\**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon.**

 **-** _ **Leaf's Conquest-**_ **-**

 **Leaf**

I looked in the mirror. God, was that _me_?

Misty had taken me out to get me a fashion upgrade, and I have to say, I was not expecting this.

On my feet were a pair of black and white fashion trainers; I wore a pair of matte black shorts edged with white, and a kneepad on my left knee, leaving the rest of my legs completely exposed. A sports bra with a large hole in the collarbone region adorned my upper body, stopping just underneath my chest. On each of my arms were an armband (in the upper arm) and one of Ash's black wristbands in the lower arm. Finally, on my head I wore the black and white visor that Ash had given to me. It exposed the top of my head, where that section of hair was packed in a thick, curly ponytail. The rest of my full hair was left to hang down, also curled up until my waist. A few shorter tendrils were at the front, framing my face. Misty had gotten my new bag dyed dark grey, to match the rest of my outfit. Also around my waist was a silver belt that held all my PokéBalls.

"Ta-da!" Misty stood back and proudly admired her work. "You look so badass, Leaf! Like a true Ace Trainer by blood! What do you think?"

"I… I don't even know what to say. It's amazing, Misty."

"I know, right? Gary would totally flip for you!"

"Ha ha…" I blushed, a sheepish smile inching across my face. Misty frowned.

"That babyish expression has got to go now, Leaf! You're an Ace Trainer! You need to sport that smoldering look of indifference!" I set my face into a judging, 'don't care' face. "That's more like it! And we can't call you Leaf anymore. That's not Ace Trainer like. You need an unruly, willful name now. What are your middle names?"

"Um… Green and Midori."

"Right! So from now on, only I, Ash, Gary, Sabrina, Karen, your mom and people close to you can call you Leaf. To others, you will now be known as Ace Trainer Midori!"

Ace Trainer Midori? I liked the sound of that. **(A/N: I got Leaf's middle name Midori from one of splitheart1120's stories, Lighting the Darkness. I figured it would be good for this story. All credits for the name go to him, though. I don't own it.)**

"Right!" Misty said. "Let's go show you to your brother."

 **No POV**

Ash was waiting impatiently outside.

"Leaf! Misty! Are you done yet? We need to get going as soon as possible."

Misty hopped outside, a cheeky but ecstatic grin on her face.

Ash raised his eyebrows. "Well?"

Misty, clearing her throat, announced, "Gentlemen and Gentlemen. I present to you…"

Gary glanced up for a moment.

"… soon to be Ace Trainer Midori!"

And that one moment turned into, like, ten. And then a hundred…

And not directly at her face, either.

"Gary. If you would please keep your eyes on my FACE."

"Wha…?" At this, Ash openly glared at Gary, and Misty snickered. They all left the hotel and headed to the Gym.

On the way, Leaf couldn't help but notice that she got a lot of stares from creepy old guys, and started to fidget as she walked.

"Psst. Leaf." Misty whispered to her. "Don't forget, you're 15 now. You're not naïve little Leaf anymore. You're bold, fearless Ace Trainer Midori. Well, almost."

"Right…" Leaf put on an intimidating look, and the creeps seemed to back off.

"There you go!"

They reached the Gym, which was clearly for Grass Types. Leaf hadn't really thought of which Pokemon she would use. On her, she had Flora at level 39, Pidgeotto at level 36, Abby at level 40 and Dratini at level 38.

"Hmm. Flora and Pidgeotto are going to evolve very soon, so it would be a good boost if they evolved in battle. But Flora's gonna be pretty much ineffective. Let me see her moves… Razor Leaf, Mega Drain, Sludge, and Energy Ball. Hold on," she said, turning to Gary. "Poison has an advantage over Grass, right?"

Gary, who was sweating with the effort to keep his eyes on her face, squeezed out, "Yeah."

"So it's Flora, Pidgeotto, and one last Pokemon. Some of her Pokemon may also be part poison, so throwing Abby in there may help, but I also want to see what Dratini can do. So I guess it's Flora, Pidgeotto and Dratini. Let's do this!"

Ash and Misty walked into the Gym, with Leaf staying behind to tie her shoelace… while backing Gary.

Said boy could not resist staring at her full behind, and quickly walked into the Gym before he did something he would regret.

Leaf smirked as she stood up. She knew exactly what she was doing to him. Giggling, she skipped into the Gym.

- _Leaf's Conquest_ -

As soon as Leaf stepped into the Gym, she immediately wished that she'd brought a gas mask. The overwhelming scent of flowers filled every nook and cranny. Ash, Misty and Gary were already in the audience stands, and Leaf decided to battle all the Gym Trainers with her Pidgeotto. One advantage of this was that her Pidgeotto evolved into Pidgeot, and learnt Sky Drop and Aerial Ace, and reached level 39.

So by the time she reached Erica, Pidgeot was pretty worn out.

"Why hello there." Erica smiled at Leaf. "I am Erica, Gym Leader of Celadon, and I am a user of the Grass Type. And you are?"

"My name is Leaf, a contender for the Pokemon championship."

"Well, Leaf, a contender for the Pokemon championship, I really think we should get started don't you?" the screen lit up, and Erica sent out a Bellossom. "Three on three. Send out your first Pokemon."

Leaf released Pidgeot.

"Bellossom, Giga Drain!"

"Gust, Pidgeot!"

Pidgeot released a powerful Gust blowing the green beam back.

"Hm. Pidgeot's a lot more powerful. Alright, Pidgeot, Wing Attack!"

Pidgeot slammed into the Bellossom with great force, and its newfound strength combined with the super effective attack reduced Bellossom's health by half.

"Get in close with Aerial Ace!"

"Vine Whip!"

Vines, thicker than Flora's normal ones, wrapped tightly around Pidgeot.

"Now slam!"

Pidgeot's health went to a quarter.

"Pidgeot!"

"Giga Drain!"

Bellossom sent another Green Ray at Pidgeot, who was too weak to move out of the way, and was knocked out cold.

"Send out your next Pokemon, if you would."

Without thinking, Leaf sent out Dratini.

"Dra!"

"Alright, Dratini, time to see what you can do!" Leaf knew it was risky to fight with a Pokemon she'd never used before, but…

Desperate times call for desperate measures.

"Bellossom, Razor Leaf!"

"Flamethrower!"

The two attacks met in the middle, and Razor Leaf was easily burnt to a crisp by Flamethrower.

The attack reached Bellossom, who fainted.

"Impressive, Leaf. But you'll have to do better than that to preside over me. Victreebel!"

A Victreebel appeared on the battleground.

"Dratini, Use Ice Beam!"

"Sunny Day!"

The intense heat melted the Ice Beam.

"Thunderbolt!" Leaf said without missing a beat.

A devastating thunderbolt dropped from the sky, scorching the VictreeBel and reducing its health drastically.

"Giga Drain!"

"DragonBreath!"

Dratini was still powering up its attack when half of its health was sapped. It wasn't looking so good. Still, it managed to fire a weak dragonbreath at its opponent. Its health minutely dropped, and yellow electricity coursed painfully through its body.

 _Just what I was hoping for,_ Leaf thought. _Paralysis._

While Leaf was thinking to herself, a torrent of razor leaves were sent at Dratini, who landed at Leaf's feet.

"Dratini! I'm sorry!"

The dragon Pokemon struggled to get up, but fell to the ground in a heap.

"Sigh. More training for you."

"Well, Leaf? I believe you still have one more Pokemon. Unless you want to forfeit the challenge?"

"Of course not!"

Holding her last Pokemon, Leaf whispered, "It's all up to you now, sugar." She kissed it. Then…

"Go, Flora!"

"I presume this is your starter, Leaf. What an adorable Pokemon."

"Saur!"

"Alrighty then. Victreebel! Toxic!"

"Shield!"

As the purple acid came flying towards Flora, she crafted a shield from her vines.

"Good, Flora! Venoshock!"

A stinky, purple liquid flew at Victreebel.

"Dodge it, Victreebel!"

It tried to do so, but just then, yellow electricity ran through its body. What a time for paralysis to kick in!

The purple acid covered it, leaving it with only a sliver of health. And as it glowed purple, Victreebel fainted.

Erica returned it.

"Seems like we're both down to our last Pokemon, huh?"

"Seems like it."

"Well, let me introduce you to my last and most powerful Pokemon. My trump card, Vileplume!"

Out came a pokemon with a blue body, and what looked like a giant pink flower on its head.

"Vile!" it squealed.

"You good to go, Flora?" Leaf asked her Pokemon. It nodded, leering fiercely at its opponent.

"Vileplume! Vine Whip!"

Vines wrapped around Flora, lifting it high and slamming it into the ground. Leaf looked at the screen, and she was down to just below half, while the Vileplume had full HP.

"Mega Drain, Flora!" Huge green tendrils shot out from Flora's bulb and wrapped around the Vileplume, eating up 3 quarters of its health. Confused, Leaf glanced at her Pokedex.

"Flora? You learned Giga Drain?"

"Saur!" Then the most unexpected thing happened.

Flora was glowing!

She increased until she was about four times her normal size, and the big flower bud on her back had bloomed fully into a large pretty pink flower, heavily scented. She looked a lot more intimidating, and that just boosted my confidence a lot.

"Okay Flora! Way to go!" I jumped up and down, clapping my hands together. "Now use razor leaf!"

"Saur!" She grunted, and exuded an enormous flurry of leaves at Vileplume, whose health bar was now on red.

Huh? That wasn't razor Leaf.

I glanced at the Pokedex. "Amazing, Flora! You learned Leaf Storm as well! Awesome!"

"Oh no, dear me." Erica fanned herself. "Vileplume, use poison powder, if you would."

Before I could call out to dodge, a thick purple powder had been scattered on Venusaur, who coughed violently. When she stopped, she glowed purple and cried out in pain.

"Venusaur, Vine Whip!"

"Counter with your own Vine Whip!"

"Sludge!"

The purple liquid wrapped around Vileplume's Vine Whip, making them fall to the floor, then hit it straight on.

"Finish this with Leaf Storm!"

Erica returned her Pokemon and walked up to me.

"Oh dear me, I seem to have lost," she said, smiling sheepishly. "Very well. Here is the Rainbow Badge."

Proudly, I clipped it to my belt. Halfway through Part 1.

 **-** _ **Leaf's Conquest**_ **-**

After we exited the Gym and I healed my Pokemon, we were on the way to Saffron.

"Do you think they'll let us in?" Misty asked once we reached the gate.

"Only one way to find out," Ash said, dragging Misty inside.

Rolling my eyes, I started to follow them, until Gary came up to me.

"Funny how they're dating and they still bicker and fight like cat and dog."

"Nah, not really. It's quite normal."

"Oh, and Leafy? There's this low-key tournament that's going to happen in Fuchsia in a few days' time. It's for Ace Trainers, and the top three winners are going to officially be crowned Ace Trainer this or that. Well, not crowned, but…"

"What do you mean? Aren't I an Ace Trainer already?"

"Leafy, just looking the part doesn't mean you're automatically one. You have to do something to prove it. Right now, you're known as Pokemon Trainer Leaf, and only if you win that tournament or do something else, can you be known as Ace Trainer Midori."

I stopped walking. "Huh."

"By the way, love the fashion upgrade. You're completely slaying." He walked ahead, whistling.

My ears turned red as I contemplated what he said, and I jogged to catch up with him, standing in front of him. I also noticed that his pupils were dilated.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It makes your body look nice, and I like it."

I'm sure my whole face was red now. When did he become so direct?"

"Any why would you like it?"

Gary looked at me with an incredulous look, as if wondering why I had asked such a question. Then he inhaled deeply and sighed. He stared me straight in the eye, his golden brown eyes looking the same color as his hair when the sun hit them. And came closer to me, a LOT closer. We were practically sharing the same breath, and my face legit felt hotter than the sun.

The next words knocked me completely off guard.

"Because I am crazy into you, Leafy."

My face was frozen in shock, my mouth hanging open as he refused to break eye contact, a determined look on his face.

"Yeah. I like you, Leafy. I have fallen very hard for you."

I finally regained senses, as my mind slowly pieced together what he said.

He likes me? He LIKES ME?! JESUS, GARY OAK LIKES ME! Was all that was running in my head.

Gradually, a shy smile started to inch across my lips, and I could literally see how red my face was.

I think Gary took this as an invitation, because he moved even closer, if that was possible, and placed his hand on my cheek, his cocky smirk planted on his face. But this time, I knew it held actual, deeper meaning.

I remained silent, waiting anxiously for his next move.

His voice came out husky and lustful, raspy with desire.

"I have waited for this day since forever, Leafy," he whispered.

And then he kissed me. SHIT, he kissed me!

But boy, did he kiss me.

I closed my eyes. His soft rosebud lips were firm, insistent on my closed ones, begging for entrance. I gladly gave in, and his domineering tongue connected with mine, fighting for control. He gladly explored my mouth, short, raspy breaths being exchanged between us, and all I could hear was the soft whispers of our linked mouths as his hungrily and thoroughly ravished mine, the wind speed picking up rapidly and blowing my hair about. His hands, leaving explosions of fire wherever they went, were on my wide hips, and he slowly trailed them up to my minute waist, pulling me to him, crushing me, begging for more, _more._

My hands went up to his hair, my fingers lacing themselves in the thick, spiky, golden silken mess. His hair, exactly like spun gold, was also being tickled by the wind, and he pulled me closer, closer, until I couldn't breathe, and it was like the route didn't exist anymore. The cities didn't exist anymore. The world didn't exist anymore, and all that did was just me, Gary, and this ocean in his lips, so sweet that I willingly drowned in it.

This amazing dream, or spell or whatever it was, was instantly broken when I heard the sound of a camera flashing behind me. Gary and I tore apart like water and fire. I mentally cursed the photographer as I turned around to see a squealing Misty and a deviously smirking Ash. Ash came up to Gary while Misty took my arm and dragged me into the gate.

I looked at her sheepishly, her big blue green eyes sparkling in pure joy.

"So… are they letting us through yet?" I tried.

"SHUT UP!"

I rubbed my ears. "Misty—"

"You, missy, are going to tell me exactly what happened out there. Between you and Gary. And no," she said when she saw me trying to speak, "it cannot wait. Right here, right now. Go."

I cleared my throat and wanted to start explaining, when something caught my eye. "What's that?"

"Don't even try to avoid the question."

"No, look. There. In Saffron City." I pointed, and Misty turned around, her eyes widening in shock. "Are those Team Rocket grunts?"

"I think so," she said silently. "Come on, let's get the boys and go in. And this conversation," she lowered her voice, "will continue later. Ash!"

"Coming!" Ash happily walked in, with a dazed looking Gary walking behind him with very tousled hair.

"Ash," Misty eyed Gary. "What did you do to Gary?"

Ash looked at Gary and shrugged. "Oh, I noogied him. And gave him the 'don't mess with my sister talk.'"

I looked at Gary, who hadn't met my eyes yet. Were we dating? Well, I guess, but… I was not expecting this at ALL.

Ash noticed me and came up to me. "Leaf, I won't tell you to calm down with Gary."

"No shit Sherlock," I said, rolling my eyes.

"But… if he should ever hurt you, just let me know, okay? I can't beat him up 'cause he's my best friend too, and my rival, but I can talk sense into him. And I," he took off my cap and ruffled my hair. "…am very happy that you've found your soulmate, Leaf."

I frowned. "Why are you and Misty making it such a big deal? We just started…"

"Right. Anyway, let's be on our way. Misty," he called. Misty came up to him, took his outstretched hand, and skipped into Saffron City. Well, Ash skipped and Misty laughed her way in.

That left me and Gary. The police officer had dozed off.

"Hey…" I said shyly. I walked up to him, slowly, his eyes never leaving my approaching figure. He had this love-struck look in them.

Damn. Did he like me THAT much?

"Hi…" he said quietly, rubbing the back of his neck. "Listen, Leaf, I..."

"It's okay," I cut in. "I really like you too."

The smile that erupted on his face kicked out the partying butterflies in my stomach and imported the entire zoo.

"Great. So… um.."

"Gary, what are we now? Are we still best friends?"

"Of course, Leafy. Just that now," he wrapped his arms around my waist again, eliciting a giggle from me, "I can call you my girlfriend as well."

His forehead came down to meet mine. "I'd like that… boyfriend."

He was about to kiss me again, and I was like, 'HELL YEAH!'

"Leaf! Gary! Get your butts out here!" Misty yelled from outside.

Gary and I unwillingly pulled away and gave ourselves 'really, Misty?' looks, before stomping outside.

LOL. Best birthday ever!

 **Hey guys. Hope you liked this chapter. Happy birthday, Leaf…**

 **I know some of you were probably expecting me to focus more on Leaf and Gary in this story, but be reminded that the primary theme of this story is adventure, and it's all about what happens to Leaf on her journey. It's not about Leaf and Gary getting together with her journey happening in the background, more like the other way round. Sure, there will be lots of snippets of oldrivalshipping, I mean, the secondary genre IS romance after all. But this story, again, is about Leaf's Journey through Kanto. OH, and I tried to make the kiss scene interesting, hope you all liked it!**

 **XOXO – Dinah :) ;) 33333**


	11. Chapter 11

**Here's your eleventh chappie. Again, Happy New Year. Serious shit is going to go down next chapter, people. And Leaf resumes use of her powers!**

…

 **Okay, I'm going to stop spoiling this stuff for you. Just read on, please.**

 **Disclaimer: On second thought, I don't want to own Pokemon. I'd be conflicted between pairing May with Drew or May with Brendan.**

 **-** _ **Leaf's Conquest-**_

 **No POV**

"Leaf! Conduct the electricity!" Karen yelled, sending a mighty lightning blast her way.

Leaf, stretching out her arm, received the lightning blast at full blast, and it came out through her other arm.

"Leaf! Prevent the fire from touching you!" Sabrina yelled, sending a searing, scorching trail of fire Leaf's way.

Leaf, face set tight in determination, produced a shield of water to put out the lightning. She then proceeded to send out an immense spiral of air at Sabrina and Karen, and sending an earthquake their way.

Sabrina and Karen, who had flown out of the way, landed on the floor with a soft thud and a satisfied smile on their faces.

"Leaf, this is splendid. However, there is one more thing you need to do for us."

Gary stood, leaned at the entrance of the room, watching his girlfriend with crossed arms and a proud smile.

"Can you combine all the elements in a single attack?" Karen created a target.

Leaf was about to drop from exhaustion. "ALL?" She sighed.

Enveloping herself in a green glow, Leaf powered up the megablast. Fire, earth, water, air, lightning, galaxy, light, pure psychic energy, volcano, ice, shadow/darkness and soul.

The remains of the target blew away in the wind, and Leaf collapsed from exhaustion. Gary decided to make himself known, clapping his hands loudly.

"There's no point, Gary. We obviously knew."

"That doesn't negate the fact that you just drained my heart of all energy."

"Relax, she's going to wake up."

"Good." He walked over to Leaf, who was mumbling on the floor. "Until she wakes up, I'm going to take her with me," he picked Leaf up, "and thanks for the lesson."

"No problem." They disappeared.

Gary walked over to the Pokemon center bed and laid Leaf down on it, gently. It had been two days since Leaf's birthday, and things were going well for them.

Ash, unfortunately, had to go to Goldenrod City in Johto from Saffron, because the Johtonese government had requested for Kanto's help in taking down Team Rocket in Johto. All members of the Indigo League (The Elite Champion, Elite Four, and League Champion) and half of the Gym Leaders were required to go to Johto, which is where Misty had followed him to, while the remaining half would stay in Kanto. Gary had stayed back, because he didn't want to leave Leaf, and Ash would've forced him to anyway. In their eyes, Leaf was too young and vulnerable to travel on her own.

Right, Leaf had said. Because you traveled at 14. Ash had shaken his head, kissed Leaf, and gotten on the train with Misty after she'd hugged Leaf. Leaf had bid a tearful goodbye to them, and had gone back to the Pokemon Center with Gary.

"Gary?" she asked now, on the bed.

"Yes, Leafy?" he turned around. He'd been heading for the door.

"Could you… you wouldn't mind, um… staying in bed with me, would you?" her face was quite red.

Gary smirked, deciding to tease her a little bit. "Why, Leafy, are you asking me to screw you?"

"NO!" Leaf sat up, her face now flushed peony. "That's not what I meant! It's just… I'm cold, Gary."

Gary, seeing her face, laughed to himself. "Alright, Leafy. And calm down, it's just a joke," he elaborated as he climbed into bed with her. They snuggled up together, and Gary wrapped his arms around her.

It wasn't until he felt her shaking did he bother to look at her.

"Leaf? What's wrong?" he asked in alarm. Leaf just shook her head.

"It's… it's stupid," she sniffled. Gary took her chin in his hand and titled her head up, revealing her wet red eyes.

"Is it Ash?" he whispered softly. Leaf, nodding weakly, buried her head into his chest.

"The only time I've been away from him was when he went on his journey. Now, I don't know why, but it's a lot more painful." Gary soothingly embraced her as she continued to cry. "And… how are we going to survive, Gary? There were four of us before. Now two? Against the endless force of Team Rocket? Who are we kidding, Gary? These people have managed to create a legendary. And they actually have the means to tear this world apart. And who's going to stop them?" Leaf looked at him sadly. "Two young, inexperienced teenagers? Sure, you're strong, and I'm learning, but it's going to take a miracle to win them. And Ash? Misty? What's going to happen to them?"

Gary wanted to reassure her and tell her that everything would be okay, but he knew he couldn't fill her with false hope. And hey, she was being realistic.

So all he could really do was to hold her even tighter and let her release her grief to her heart's content.

 **-** _ **The PokéWorld Trials-**_

Leaf and Gary were walking toward the Saffron City Gym, laughing and chatting, until Gary volunteered to get them drinks. When Leaf got there, however, she noticed a Rocket Grunt standing squat in front of the Gym Door.

"Excuse me," Leaf said to him. "I would like to pass through, please."

The grunt shook his head. "No can do, lass. You're gonna have to boot."

"Huh? But why? I th—"

"I really hate repeating myself. Now scram, runt."

"No one said I couldn't challenge the Gym." Leaf huffed, then tried to edge past the grunt. "Move aside."

The man pushed her back forcefully. "Are your ears full of shit, idiot? Get lost, or I'll punch you."

Leaf rolled her eyes and shoved past him roughly.

Then the unexpected happened. The grunt landed a devastating punch to her face.

"AAAAAAGGHH!" Leaf screamed, stumbling backward and clutching her nose in pain. "YOU F**KING MENTAL CUNT! DILDO!"

The grunt growled as he stumbled toward poor Leaf who had blood dripping profusely down her nose, and was crouched on the floor.

"S-stop…" she whimpered in pain, a tear rolling down her bruised cheek.

The grunt sneered, kicking Leaf's stomach before dragging her up by her hair. Leaf sobbed in fear and agony. She was losing consciousness…

"Y'know, slut, you're pretty cute. Maybe…"

He didn't get to finish what he was saying because a black blur with gold at the top suddenly shot forward and knocked him off balance.

Before Leaf's eyes closed, she recognized the blur as Gary, calling out to her and gently lifting her up, before she passed out.

It felt like two seconds later when she woke up to a glaring bright light, with Gary sitting down beside her and holding her hand.

"Gary?" Surprisingly, her voice sounded fine, and she felt her face. Completely healed. How?

"Leaf! You're awake thank God." He leaned over me and placed a soft kiss on her lips. "The nurse said you're free to go when you wake up. Come on."

"How long was I out?"

"Like an hour."

Leaf flew up, hitting the ceiling. "Really? So that grunt is still there? Come ON, Gary!"

She grabbed her stuff, and teleported away, leaving a very shocked Gary, to the front of the Gym. There stood the grunt, with a bandage on his nose.

When he saw Leaf, his face molded into pure anger, mirroring hers. Boy, was she going to show him a piece of her mind.

"You, you little whore!"

"Bastard, don't even speak to me!"

They were getting closer, and when they were almost face to face, the grunt drew back his fist, ready to hit her with it. Leaf just stood still, and the grunt swung at her.

However, he seemed to hit a hard wall.

"Wha?" He asked a fuming Leaf. She just remained silent, and the man's hand was enveloped in a green light. He stared at Leaf with an astonished expression, as the glow spread to the rest of his body, and he levitated a few feet into the air.

Unbeknownst to Leaf, her eyes were very brightly glowing neon green, and flashing from normal to glowing, normal to glowing. It showed her anger.

Still in the air, Leaf raised her hand, and a giant, translucent green Arbok wrapped around the grunt, and began to squeeze.

"Dammit, girl! Are you trying to kill me? Huuu!" He wheezed.

Leaf wasn't in her correct state of mind at that time, so she didn't heed his warning, her hand in midair, glowing green.

"Leaf!" Someone called, looking in horror at what she was doing.

Leaf, lost in her trance, didn't even hear anything.

"Leaf!" The person called, yanking her shoulder, and only then did she stop tormenting the man, who ran away limping.

Shaking her head in dizziness, Leaf asked, "Gary?"

"What the hell just happened?"

"I don't even know. Man, this sorcery is becoming wilder and stronger every day."

"That's good, right?"

Leaf stared up at him, the sun hitting the soft, feminine features on her face. "To tell the truth? I have no idea."

She looked at the Gym. "Well, now that we're here, better to just get this over with, huh? Good thing Sabrina stayed. And Blaine. Gary, do you know who the last Gym Leader is?"

Yikes, Gary thought. He'd begun to sweat. "Umm…"

Thankfully, Leaf's Poke Gear rung, and Gary breathed out a sigh of relief. Leaf looked at him expectantly.

"Aren't you going to get that?" Gary asked her.

"Yeah, I guess…" Leaf dug it out and pressed it to her ear. After a few seconds, her face lit up.

"Ash?" she smiled. "Hey, how's it going over there! Good to know you're still alive!"

Gary just edged away as she was talking to Ash, and watched her from afar.

He couldn't help but smile.

Leaf. Leaf Midori Green Ketchum, with the long brown hair and lovely green eyes. The yin to his yang, the ray of sunshine that had kept him alive and happy since he first met her. He was so happy to have her, he couldn't bear to let her go.

What was this feeling called? Gary had had countless crushes before, but this was more than a crush, and more than liking Leaf. IT was something… deeper.

Could it be… love?

"No, it couldn't be," he said to himself. It was too early in their relationship to fall in love.

Or was it?

One thing was for sure, though. He was exceedingly crazy about her. She was like a drug, he could never get enough of her.

Or could he?

Because right as he said that, a giant Crobat came and swept her away.

Gary rubbed his eyes and stared at the spot she was just in. What?

Then he started panicking.

"GARY!" he heard her. Shit, he had to find her. He HAD to…

"Leaf? Leaf?" Her Poke Gear on the floor said.

"LEAF!" Gary yelled. He saw the bat fly into a window at Silph. Co. Silph. Co. Team Rocket. What had brought devastation to all of Kanto.

And now, what had brought devastation and fury to him. Gary marched off towards the building.

"Leaf? Where are you?" The Poke Gear called.

 **I know this was really short, but it's a premonition of what's going to happen in the net chapter.**

 **Next time on The PokéWorld Trials:**

"What do you want from me?" Leaf yelled.

"Why, your abilities."

"Ash, Leaf's been kidnapped," Gary yelled to Ash as he sprinted toward the building.

"WHAT?!"

"Sabrina? What's wrong?"

"Karen… I can sense great discord coming from the Silph Corporation building. Something about… Trinome?"

"Leaf, we have to get you out of here. The building's going to explode any second now."

"It's no use! We'll never save the President AND leave this place on time! Either we save him and die, or we run for our lives and let him perish."

 **Will they make it out?**

 **What does Rash Ash do?**

 **What does Team Rocket want with Leaf's powers?**

 **And what is all this talk about something called… Trinome?**

 **Find out in the next instalment of The PokéWorld Trials!**


	12. Chapter 12

**Hey, everyone! I've been taking a break because school started and it's been VERY hectic for the past three or four weeks, so I haven't been able to update. If you're reading this, it means that you're still following the story and actually want to continue reading, so thank you for that. Even if I don't have a lot of reviewers, favorites or follows, I still feel happy knowing that people READ this. Because, honestly, when I read stories, even if I like them a lot, I don't review, favorite or follow. So you don't have to anymore, I don't mind. Seriously. I can count the number of times I've reviewed a story on one hand.**

 **Enough chit chat. I got a review disapproving of my making Karen a psychic. I'm going to clear that up right now.**

 **Karen is NOT a psychic. I specifically emphasized that she was a user of DARK-TYPE magic during her cameo. Only Sabrina and Leaf are psychics; Karen's a hex maniac – I'll just call her that for now, albeit a very strong one. And if you guys thought that she was psychic, then I'm very sorry, because I didn't realize that was happening.**

 **Leaf: Can we start already?**

 **Again, I'm sorry. I just love Leaf so much. She's my favorite player character.**

 **Leaf: Yay! Anyway, let's get on with it. I want to pummel the creep who sent his Pokemon to capture me and take me away from Gary!**

 **LOL. You'll get your revenge, Leaf. Oh, and I don't own Pokemon or the characters, except Darcy. Remember him?**

 **Without further ado, on with the story!**

…

 **Leaf**

The Crobat crashed through the window of the tall building I'd seen earlier, and the glass cut my skin… ouch. Thankfully, there was no blood, just a bit of redness.

The Pokemon dumped me on a tiled floor. What was going on?

 _I'm so confused right now…_

I looked around, and I saw that I was in what looked like a cell. Unlike the last cell I'd been in, this one had good lighting, _air conditioning,_ surprisingly, and it was clean. No smells or anything like that, and that only appalled me more.

"Hey, kid." A rough voice said. I looked up to see a person in the Team Rocket costume.

So it was them that took me? Man, I was angry already! I curled my hands into fists.

"Nuh-uh." The man switched on the screen behind him, and I saw… Ash, on one side, tied up and gagged, struggling to get free, and on another side, Misty running through a city that resembled Saffron.

"Ash!" she screamed. "ASH! Where are you?" She seemed to be on the verge of tears.

I could have easily just shielded them from where I was and then finished off this guy, but I might as well just shield them and then find out what they wanted from me. So I did that, so that no missile or anything would touch them, and sent a message to them saying I had put the barrier.

 **No POV**

After that, the grunt opened the cell, grabbed Leaf, and began talking.

"You know, rascal, you're pretty popular in Team Rocket. First, two years ago, your brother reportedly shut us down," Leaf had heard about that, "then we dug up some info on him and then found out he had a younger sister, which turned out to be you. Before we started back up again, we decided that we could easily use you as bait if we could capture you, and Ash would be like putty in our hands. After that, well, we discovered you were a psychic, way before you did, and we could use you to control Trinome. And… well, here we are." He pushed her into a room, no, an office. Behind the desk sat a young man in a Team Rocket uniform, just that his belt and his collar were silver, and his boots and gloves were white. He had a big blue P on his sweater, and bright blue hair.

But when Leaf looked into his eyes…

She saw nothing. Just a cold, emotionless green… Empty. And she shivered. In fear.

What had this man gone through to be like that? One look at his face and Leaf knew he would kill her on the spot if he could. And when he smiled at her, a sick, twisted grin, she felt her blood turn to ice, and involuntarily shuddered.

"Leaf." Even his voice sent rattles down her spine. "Leaf Ketchum." He laughed, a warped, perverse, distorted sound. "You've gained quite some notoriety among Team Rocket. I've been requested to capture you as soon as possible. I have to say, your brother and your friend aren't very bright. Leaving a young traveling trainer on her own?"

"I wasn't alone," Leaf spat out. She had to be brave. She couldn't let him see her fear.

"Oh, yes." The man pursed his lips. "Your little boyfriend. He would've been a problem, but thankfully, we managed to create a diversion to give us just enough time to abduct you."

Leaf froze. What? "You mean…"

The man waved off the grunt at the door. "You may go."

The grunt nodded and shut the door behind him.

"There wasn't really any Team Rocket crisis in Johto. Not at all. It was quite easy to forge a letter from the Johtonese government, requesting the aid of League members and half Cantonese Gym Leaders to come over and help. And they blindly went!" he cackled loudly, slapping his knee. "That just meant less opposition on the Kanto side. Right as they arrived, they were taken prisoner by some grunts over there, and Ariana got a drone to mimic Ash's voice so that a distraction could be made to get Gary away from you. That was the drone talking to you on the phone. So that means less strong people to fight us here, impossibly easy manipulation of the Cantonese government, and finally," he whispered, leaning over until he was an inch away from her face. He tapped her nose with a gloved finger. "…no one to protect you, little Leafy."

Leaf flinched. _Gary…_ she thought wistfully, then suddenly, rage built up within her.

She bent her head down, trying to calm herself down. If they hurt him…

She looked up, her green eyes brightly illuminated.

"Who are you and what do you want from me?" she screamed.

The man pretended to have forgotten. "I apologize. I have forgotten to give you an introduction." He stood up from his chair and walked around the table, stopping in front of Leaf, who was trembling with fury now. "I go by Rocket Executive Proton. However," he cracked his knuckles. "I am also regarded as the cruelest, most merciless member of Team Rocket. And judging by what grunts alone have done, I am someone you do not want to mess with."

The girl in front of him felt another tremendous wave vibrate through her, but not of fear this time.

Of rage.

"What do you want from me?" Leaf yelled.

"Why, your abilities."

Leaf burned holes through him with her eyes. "What?"

Proton looked surprised. "Did the grunt not inform you? Naughty little girl, you weren't listening. Well, I shall have to tell you again." He took a deep breath as Leaf listened. "Well, by your abilities, I mean your sorcery. We need it to—"

"—control Trinome. And it's psi, not sorcery."

"Whatever. Well, I suppose we had better get on with it, then."

Leaf was about to ask him what he meant, until she felt a sharp prick at her neck. Then, for the third time that day, she closed her eyes.

…

Sabrina was quietly reclining on a sofa in her Gym and reading a book accompanied with a chocolate milkshake, when she suddenly received a wracking headache.

 _Is something happening in Saffron? In the Silph Building? Why am I getting signals of Leaf in danger?_

 _And is that an orange Mewtwo I'm seeing?_

Karen, who was sitting on another couch, looked at her in concern.

"Sabrina? What's wrong?"

She had to take a few deep breaths before answering.

"Karen, I can sense great discord coming from the Silph Corporation building. Something about… Trinome?"

Karen looked at Sabrina like she was crazy. "Excuse me?"

Sabrina held her head once more, then turned to Karen. "We need to see what's going on."

Out in the city, everything seemed to be fine, but the signal waves were coming on to Sabrina even more strongly.

Karen looked at her friend, and sighed. "Sabrina, I'm going to try and see if I can find something that will help." She closed her eyes and concentrated, then opened them, glowing purple. She grabbed Sabrina's hand.

"This way!"

They turned into an alley, and emerged back onto another main street, where they saw someone familiar yelling frantically into a Poke Gear to what seemed to be Ash.

Sabrina looked at Karen in confusion. "What's going on here?"

"Maybe he knows what happened to Leaf. She's not with him."

The two women ran after him, until they heard part of his rant into the phone.

"… been kidnapped!"

Sabrina's eyes went wide, and her senses intensified. She stopped running and exclaimed in horror.

"WHAT?!"

He turned around, looking very frustrated. His eyes widened when he saw them.

"Sabrina? Karen?"

…

Gary tore through Saffron City at top speed, pushing past pedestrians in his way. He pressed the Poke Gear to his ear **(A/N: LOL, that rhymed)** to see if Ash was still on the line.

"Ash?" He called. "Buddy, you there?"

"Gary? What's going o… bzzzz…" the line went dead. The spiky haired boy didn't notice.

"Ash, Leaf's been kidnapped!" Gary yelled to Ash as he sprinted toward the building.

"WHAT?!"

Gary turned around to be met with two women. The one, possessing flowing dark blue hair and sharp cerise eyes, and the other having long wavy silver hair and matching eyes.

"Sabrina? Karen?" He ran a hand through his hair. If they were looking for Leaf to lecture her about her lessons, now was not the time. He felt ready to crush something.

"Gary, I just heard you say that someone's been kidnapped. Who?" Sabrina asked.

He groaned. "Guys, I don't really have time for…"

"WHO?"

Gary sighed in defeat. "Leaf. Leaf's been taken away, and I'd bet my limbs it was Team Rocket." He grew more irritated by the second, and kicked over a trash can. "Team Rocket! God knows what they're doing to her… I don't even know how it happened. One moment she's chatting happily with Ash, the other, she's gone! It's my fault… I shouldn't have even stepped away from her. I shouldn't have brought her here. Heck, I shouldn't have…"

Karen had grown tired of this nonsense. She walked over to Gary and slapped him. "Snap out of it, idiot!" she scolded, glaring up at him. "Now is not the time for excuses. It is not the time to blame yourself. And it is sure as hell not the time to be telling stories. What happened has happened. Our problem now is to fix it and bring Leaf back. So the three of us are going to march up to that building, thump everyone, rescue Leaf, and destroy the creep who kidnapped her." She marched off towards the building, calling over her shoulder. "Are we in this together or not?"

Gary answered without a moment's hesitation. "Definitely in," and ran to catch up to her. Sabrina followed closely behind.

What a day.

…

 **Leaf**

The next time Leaf opened her eyes, she was strapped onto a… hard table?

"Why would they lay me on a table?" She wondered aloud.

"Oh, we didn't."

Leaf glanced around frantically. Who was that?

"In case you're wondering, it's me. Proton. I've received orders from Giovanni to carry on with the experiment."

"What experiment?" Leaf was tired of this. "Let me go!"

"After we're done with you, yes."

She was confused. "What the…"

That was when she noticed the other side of the room.

Strapped tightly to the other side of the room, was what looked like an orange Mewtwo with yellow eyes and red armor. And it seemed to stare through her.

"In case you're wondering, I'm not in the room. That would be too hazardous. What you're beholding is about ten times stronger than Mewtwo and is called…"

She didn't have to guess. "Trinome?"

"Exactly. If you would call it that."

Trinome's bonds broke free, and an orange mist surrounded it, until it morphed, and morphed, and morphed…

Into Leaf. Who was horrified, by the way.

"Wh… what is that?" she managed to choke out.

"That is you. Well, the thing that is going to fool your friends."

Leaf would've protested, or said more, but there was one thing nagging on her mind. "How are you controlling it? Even Mewtwo couldn't be. Controlled, I mean. Surely something that powerful can't be controlled?"

"Oh. That. Well, Leaf. I shot a bullet containing a substance that lets me have control over it with this remote in my hand." She heard a flipping sound, probably the remote. After that, a glass screen obscured her from the rest of the room, and her bonds broke free. She banged on the screen, but no sound was heard, and she rested against the wall.

A few minutes later, she saw Sabrina, Karen, and Gary rush into the room.

Leaf wanted to fall over in relief when she saw that Gary was unhurt.

"GARY!" she screamed, resuming her banging on the glass window. "Sabrina! Karen! Gary!"

She could only watch in horror as they saw the fake Leaf fool them, and Gary smiled so hard. Leaf couldn't take it. How couldn't they see her?! She guessed that on her side, the glass was transparent, but on the other side, it was a mirror.

She had to warn them, or that thing would destroy them all. She launched a psi energy blast at the screen, but not a scratch was made.

"Tsk, Leaf." Proton's voice came in her ear. "This wall is immune to psychic energy. Your attacks won't do a thing. Oh, and the reason I brought your friends here… is because of _that_."

Leaf looked up, only to see… MEWTWO connecting its purple aura with Karen's own, and… entering her. Karen's eyes had a dangerous purple glow now.

And… oh God… both Karen and the fake Leaf started attacking Gary and Sabrina!

"Sabrina! GARY!" Leaf thrashed around. Surely there had to be some way…

But there wasn't. She could only watch helplessly as Gary's Pokemon fell, one by one, until he was down to Charizard, and Sabrina was about to faint.

She contemplated what Proton said.

 _This wall is immune to psychic energy._

Leaf suddenly smirked. What had Sabrina taught her? How could she forget?

She encased her hand in rock, coated in fire and electricity…

And smashed through the glass to a very surprised Gary, and an emotionless Sabrina.

"Leaf, I have to say, I'm disappointed. How could you forget your training so easily?"

Leaf was very sheepish. "I'm sorry, Sabrina."

Sabrina rolled her eyes. "We'll discuss this later. Now, we have to take out this fake and save Karen."

Gary was staring at Sabrina in horror. "You KNEW?!"

Sabrina eyed him. "Of course I knew. And I knew what would happen, so I didn't feel like we needed to do anything. Back to work!"

"Right." Leaf deadpanned. "How are we going to do that? Because I'm pretty sure we're going up against two legendries over here. Combined with a witch whose power has just been multiplied by, like, ten. Who is hella powerful, by the way."

"We have no choice," Sabrina insisted. "We can't just run and leave Karen here."

"Then how will we free her?"

Gary spoke up. "Mewtwo simply needs a medium to fight in, and he can't fight with a dead body."

Leaf's eyes widened in horror. "You mean…?"

"No, no, Leaf. We have to knock her unconscious."

 _Or,_ Sabrina said to me telepathically, _we can just find where Proton is._

I raised an eyebrow. _That is actually a good idea. Hey, don't roll your eyes at me! Okay, I'll get going on that while you and Gary can try to knock this thing out. Though it's going to take a lot…_

I nodded at Sabrina, who went back to fighting with Gary. As I ran out the door which had suspiciously been left open, I heard Gary calling out to me, and Sabrina convincing him to stay put. He looked back, sent an encouraging smile to me, and continued fighting before the door shut.

Right. I was all on my own now. Thankfully, all my PokéBalls were on my belt, and they hadn't been damaged at all. Which meant my Pokemon were ready for battle.

I couldn't imagine how surprised I was when I was out of nowhere launched into a wall, my sensitive skin tingling with an indescribable amount of pain. Where had that come from?

I darted my eyes around frantically, only for them to land on a grim, foreboding Houndoom, accompanied closely by a mighty Arcanine. Was it the scary Houndoom that had hit me so painfully against the wall?

I didn't even have time to comprehend that before I was suddenly attacked viciously from behind, doubling the pain on my already bruised body. Obviously, I was a fool for thinking, so naively, that I could escape unhindered.

Turning to face my attacker, I widened my eyes in horror at the discovery.

In front of me was frighteningly situated a gleaming, magnificent Skarmory, its wings gleaming of polished steel and its piercing silver eyes trained maliciously on me. And atop this being sat none other than Proton, his shiny cerulean hair matching his cold, cruel, emotionless eyes, which unfortunately happened to be focused on little old me.

"Well, Leaf." Proton chuckled darkly. "Interesting that you managed to figure out how to escape from that dungeon." He tossed a remote in his hands idly, and my gears began to turn.

"Is that Trinome's remote?"

He idly glanced at the remote, flipping it. "Oh, this little thing? No. The remote's not with me… it's with someone else. This remote here, is used to control these three wild Pokemon… and Mewtwo."

"Mewtwo?" I was puzzled. "But Mewtwo's in…"

"That's right." Proton smirked dastardly. "Karen, why don't we show them what we can do?"

And to my absolute horror, _Karen_ strolled out from behind the Skarmory, looking more lifeless than a rock. My anger slowly built, blocking out all the pain.

"What did you do to her? And to Sabrina? GARY?" I furiously screamed at him. "You monster!"

"Eh, I've been called worse. Well, in case you're wondering, or as you already saw, Mewtwo is temporarily dwelling in your mentor for the time being. Isn't that just neat?"

I warily gave Karen an once-over. She'd ditched her lilac cami and three quarters for an ankle length indigo jumpsuit, riddled with various lavender stripes. She donned a pair of gloves of the same indigo, and wore heeled sandals colored aubergine. The main difference, however, was her aura. It, and her eyes, didn't radiate their usual dark purple. Instead, they glowed a sickly lilac color.

That was Mewtwo's obvious trademark color.

"Let me just tell you that Gary and Sabrina were knocked out by Karen, so no one's gonna save you. And there's basically no way to escape. If the Pokemon don't win you, then my Pokemon will, and if they don't, it's going to be Karen. And I should warn you…" he cupped his hand over his mouth. "Karen alone is very strong, but pair her with a crazily powerful legendary and you have almost fifteen times the damage."

I raised both eyebrows at that. This would be tough.

"Or, of course, you could just surrender, the easy way. Or face the risk of getting yourself absolutely crushed."

There was no way I was going down without a fight. And if that meant getting seriously injured for Gary, then so be it.

Tossing my ring into the air, I watched it spin, shine and transform into my scepter, which landed securely in my hand.

"Oh, well," I sighed mock-sadly, storing away my hat and flipping my hair. "Guess I'm perhaps getting absolutely crushed."

Time to bring out the big guns.

 **-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-**

 **AAAAND there's your twelfth chapter for you, darlings! I was so excited to put this up; I personally believe it's one of the best chapters so far. Tell me what you think, please!**

 **And The PokéWorld Trials is officially off hiatus. No flames; constructive criticism and positive feedback only.**

 **I won't make any promises about the next update, though I have planned a magnificent showdown between Leaf and Karen! I'm so looking forward to it!**

 **PM, review, follow and favorite. Bye!**


	13. Chapter 13

**iWithout much ado, ta-da! Chapter thirteen for you! And…please ignore the previews in chapter 11 of chapter 12, I didn't fulfil them and they may not be happening. I'm clearly not good at that… sorry…**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon.**

 **On with the story!**

 **-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-** _ **Leaf's Journey**_ **-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-**

 **In Johto – Misty**

"Ugh…"

Ouch… my head hurt like hell. All I could remember was arriving in Johto with Ash and then being painfully knocked out and tied up, then… here.

Here. Ash. Oh gosh.

Finally springing my weary eyes open, I searched the area desperately, no sign of Ash. Or my PokeBalls, for that matter.

Only then did I notice that there was a heavy weight on me, and I tiredly looked down.

"Ash!" I shook him to wake up. "Wake up."

"Ngh… Misty?" He made to reach for me, but only then did I realize that his hands were still bound up. But why were mine free? We were enclosed in Leaf's barrier – I don't know, I just had this certainty it was her – and outside was the bustling city of Goldenrod.

Great. The goons just dumped us here and ran. Freaking perfect.

"Misty," Ash breathed, taking my hand in his. "We need to find a way to get out of here… break this barrier."

"But won't it hurt Leaf?"

Ash sighed. "True. But what else can we do?"

"Well, what'll we use to break it down?"

"We'll have to use pure strength. Ready yourself, Misty."

Taking a deep breath, I nodded.

 **Leaf**

Time to get this part-a-y started. I had no idea why I was so confident and eager when I should be fearing for my life.

"I'm not one to normally play by the rules, Leaf, but I have to say, you need them," Proton informed me. "Ready when you are." He released his Honchkrow.

I tentatively pulled out my PokeBalls.

"Alright, guys," I whispered to my Pokemon. "I don't know how strong these Pokemon are, but I know that Proton's got only one on him right now; I've battled him before. The rest are probably in their main base, where, I don't know. So each of you will take one. You have to fight with everything in you. Pidgeot, your wing's almost healed, but can you handle it?"

"Pidge!"

"Alright then. The future of Saffron and probably Kanto depends on this, because only God knows what Team Rocket plans to do. Are you ready?"

All my beloved Pokemon nodded affirmatively, determined.

"Let's do this, guys," I smirked at them.

"POKEMON, GO!" I yelled, releasing them. "Pidgeot! To Honchkrow! Flora! To Houndoom! Sorry," I whispered at the end. "Good thing I used a TM to teach you Earthquake. Use that to your advantage… Abby!" I paused for a minute, thinking. I could send Abby to Arcanine, and she'd do fine, but right now I needed more than fine to take out that massive Pokemon. I needed strength, power and size. Dratini was a little bigger than Arcanine, and she was about to evolve.

But should I run the risk? True, if she evolved, she'd be half the size of Mt. Silver and larger than this building… thankfully, we were on a large enough platform. But we'd need more space.

"To Houndoom! And that means Dratini's going up against Arcanine. But first…" I closed my eyes and transported us to a battlefield, formed from my imagination and more than big enough for all the Pokemon. Yes, even my soon-to-be larger-than-normal Dragonair.

"Can we start already?" Proton grumbled. "Why am I even asking? Honchkrow, Gust!"

A Gust, much more powerful than it was supposed to be, was headed straight for Flora. I deflected it immediately.

Mustering my most terrifying glare, I sent it to Proton, knocking him off his feet. "You're going to be sorry you did that. Guys! You know what to do. I don't need to remind you." I elongated my scepter, flipping it and changing into a black off shoulder crop top, tight black spandex stopping mid thigh and knee-high boots. "I'll deal with Karen."

What a fight we would have here.

The next thing I knew, this excruciatingly painful feeling shot through my side, and I looked up to see that I'd just been struck with a Psystrike from the possessed Karen. Alright. I had to be on my guard now, because I wasn't sure if I could handle another one.

She powered up a Shadow Ball; Mewtwo was using Karen's own Dark powers to fight alongside its own Psychic ones. That was why Karen had been able to fire a Psystrike; Karen wasn't a Psychic, I had to remember. Unfortunately, I had to knock her out before it got any worse.

She launched a series of energy blasts at me, and I quickly ran towards her while spinning my scepter to form a shield in front of me, deflecting the attacks. When I reached her, I encased my hand in… I wanted to knock out this thing as quickly as possible. So I used rock, and she flew backwards in pain.

We continued to tediously spar with each other, but when I finally seemed to be gaining the upper hand, I used it to my advantage, kicking at her side with my boot, encased in ice.

However, Karen simply flew at me from where she'd been thrown off too, and I raised my scepter in front of my eyes, ready to deflect any attack.

What I was not expecting, however, was for the possessed Karen to suddenly conjure up a giant spoon out of nowhere, rivaling mine. I flew up into the air, and she determinedly followed me, her spoon and my scepter meeting in a fierce struggle for power.

I'm guessing that was Mewtwo's famous spoon.

"KAREN!" I screamed, hopeful that the real Karen still dwelled in this monster. "Karen! Stop! What are you doing?!"

Neither of our weapons seemed to be domineering, and the force of both pushed us back to the ground.

Groaning, I rubbed my back as I sat up, only to be met with a resounding whack from Mewtwo's spoon, making me fly through three pillars and crash into a wall.

My whole body hurt like hell. I felt like just giving up… but I couldn't.

Karen came at me again, whirring the spoon like a windmill. I formed a shield, holding her back, then looked to see how my Pokemon were doing.

They were all down, except Dratini, who was taking on the three Pokemon at once.

And… she was trying desperately to protect my fallen Pokemon, while heavily bruised herself.

Dratini.

Seeing this, my Pokemon in such a bad state, yet still protecting her partners, stirred up something inside me.

Mewtwo was going down.

Proton was going down.

Team Rocket was going down.

"AAAAGGGHHHH!" As Karen broke the shield, I decided enough was enough. No more fooling around; enough time had been wasted on that. I returned my fainted Pokemon and rushed to Dratini's side, also shrinking my scepter back.

"Give up, Leaf!" Proton yelled from the Skarmory. "You can't win!"

I looked at him, incredulous.

 _Dratini, how long can you keep fighting?_

 _ **Leaf? I can hold them off for a while, but not long…**_

 _Good. That's just what I need. Don't give up, okay sweetie?_

I had to help my Pokemon, so what I needed to do right now was restrain Karen. Having returned my scepter, I spun around and around as she came toward me, then flew back, repelled by the force I was generating. But I didn't stop.

Only when I'd created a huge spiral of wind, laced with electricity, and launched it at her, did I stop. Thankfully, it seemed to do the trick; obviously Mewtwo wasn't down yet, but it was enough to distract it as I encased it in my most potent ice, laced with poison. Within ten minutes, it would've used recover and then broken out of there. But that was all I needed.

I ran back to my Pokemon's side.

 _ **Leaf… I don't know how much longer I can keep fighting…**_

 _Well, I do._ I concentrated as I shielded us both, a green energy flowing from me to Dratini and turning purple at her end. _There… I've given you most of my energy._

 _ **Wow… that's refreshing, but will it be enough? I'm so tired…**_

 _Listen, Dratini, you're not weak. You're anything but that. You're doing so well, putting yourself before the others. I'm so proud of you. Even if you should go out now, you've done the best you can._

 _ **What? I'm not leaving you here to fight these things by yourself.**_

I could hear the Pokemon banging on my shield. I had to hurry up… but with the energy having been sapped from me to my Pokemon, I was so tired I could just collapse.

But Gary… I couldn't give up.

 _Well, then, what say you to kicking some butt?_

Dratini stared through me, her bright blue eyes communicating her answer.

 _ **I'm definitely in.**_

 _Let's do this!_

And as I smacked her tail with my hand in some form of a high five, I suddenly felt… warm.

I could feel my energy increasing and increasing, as well as my willpower. I opened my eyes to see a bright yellow light swirling around me, and I could tell that my powers had been magnified by a lot. So I closed my eyes and let it continue, as I began to levitate. I also saw that the leaf tattoo I'd previously gotten on my palm had appeared on my other one, as well as a detailed daffodil on my stomach, and all were glowing green.

By the time I landed, I had a jeweled headband around my head, looking very regal, diamond earrings, and I sported a lovely green off shoulder crop top that had a shimmering translucent yellow veil flowing behind it, as well as an intricately designed… skirt… that was touching the floor, but had slits starting at the top of my legs, so both of my legs were exposed. I also wore gladiator sandals with gold studding, and my Pokeballs were on a necklace around my neck and had all been redesigned to be forest green with sparkly gold swirlings. My hair was up in a high ponytail with gold hair cuffs, and I had… makeup on? Shiny gold eyeliner topped with glittery green eyeshadow, eyebrow pencil, transparent lip gloss, and contoured skin with mascara. All my wounds had healed too.

All in all, my look was very elegant.

"What…" I asked as I landed gently on the floor. "What is this?" I looked myself up and down. Was this me?

Then I remembered Dratini.

"Dratini!" I exclaimed, whirling around. Only… Dratini wasn't there anymore.

I came face to face with a humongous, magnificent green Dragonair, also with a leaf tattoo on her horn. She looked refreshed, too.

 _ **Leaf… I'm not a Dratini anymore! I'm a Dragonair, at last! And I'm completely refreshed… I feel like I can do anything!**_

"Me too! And… it's like this…" I gestured to myself, "is some kind of alternate ego or something, huh?" She nodded. "But for now, I think we should get back out there… we've spent long enough in here."

 _ **Yup… this space is a bit too cramped for my liking.**_

Deciding to test out the magnitude of my strength, I tapped on the shield I made, lightly.

And the whole thing came shattering down.

"Awesome," I whispered, glancing at my hands. This would explain why I'd never been able to beat Sabrina before… she'd been through this before.

However, my joy was short-lived as I watched Arcanine push off Dragonair from the platform and into the endless ground.

"DRAGONAIR!" I shrieked, running past Karen to look over the edge, only to look to my right to see her levitating in the air and facing a very shocked Arcanine.

Right… most dragons can fly.

All of a sudden, I received a weird sensation in my neck, almost warning me, and I turned around…

…to see Karen launching her spoon straight for my neck. I flicked my wrist, and it was deflected immediately.

"This is your last chance, Karen. You can end this… I really don't want to hurt you."

"GIVE UP!" Proton screamed at me. "You won't win! You can't, you just can't!"

Ignoring Karen for the time being, I looked to see that Dragonair had taken out Houndoom and Arcanine, and only Skarmory was left.

I returned Dragonair. "Sorry, but I'd like to take things from here. If I need anything, I'll call you out."

I faced the Skarmory, readying an attack. Steel types were weak against fire, right?

From my hands launched an endless stream of searing, intense flames, wrapping around the Skarmory and tormenting it. It fainted instantly, and I turned to Proton.

"I should give up? Proton? You should take that advice yourself, don't you think?"

"No." He shook his head vehemently. He looked different now, almost fearful, and for some reason, the psychopathic look on his face made me fear him even more than normal. "No, you can't win, and you WON'T!"

He took out… a gun. A gun. And aimed at me. "You're crazy if you think I'll let you go after what your demented brother did!"

"What?!" I couldn't believe this. "Do you need me to take you to a hospital? If anyone's demented, it's YOU!"

I couldn't even blink before I heard a gunshot. But for some reason, the universe slowed down, and I was able to leap slightly to the side to avoid the shot.

Unfortunately, I missed. The bullet pierced the side of my stomach, and my hands instinctively flew there. I wasn't even aware that the loud, ear-splitting scream I heard was emanating from me, or that the hot tears rolling down my face belonged to me. I realized this only when I was snapped back to reality by the horrid sight of warm, fresh blood spilling from me.

Hmm. Blood. It's darker than you expect it to be.

This was happening too much lately. I couldn't lose consciousness again.

"Leaf? Leaf!" Hmm… a frantic voice? Was that Karen? It sure sounded like her.

Another gunshot sounded again. Was that me? No, I realized as a mint green head crashed onto the ground. Proton. Suicide is a truly cowardly thing.

The last thing I remember was seeing Karen trying to protect me from the now freed Mewtwo, and my Dragonair…

 **NO POV**

"Tell me again why we didn't break this thing down?"

"Because we couldn't, Ash." Ash and Misty sat side to side. "You know we'll have to go back to Kanto after this, right? I can't believe we fell for that."

"Why do I get the feeling that Leaf's in danger?"

"Probably your sibling bond."

Misty reached for his hand. "Don't worry, Ash; I can assure you that whatever's happened to Leaf, she'll get through it. She's strong like that."

Turning around, Ash stared at her, only to find that she was staring back. He loved the faith she had in Leaf. The way she would rush to his side in any situation… even the way she handled his denseness. He loved everything she did… everything about her.

Wow. What a time to realize this.

Ash loved Misty.

He was in love with her. With every fiber of his being.

And of course, Ash being the big dope he was, decided to tell her. But not right away.

Touching his lips to hers, Ash closed his eyes. This one was different. This was the first kiss he'd had while in love.

Or maybe he'd been in love with her this whole time, but was too blind to see it.

Ash wrapped his arms around her waist and lifted her so she was straddling him, and he kissed her harder.

She sensed something, though, and she pulled away. "Ash? Are you okay?"

How could Ash think straight like this? Her fiery hair was down and tumbled to her shoulders, and in the shadows, her striking jade eyes burned brighter than he'd ever seen. Her freckles, scattered across her nose like stars on a clear night sky, darkened. Ash wanted to tell her how much he loved her fiery spirit; her suspicious, cautious nature; the slight fleck of green in her right eye; the way her nose hooked up slightly at the end just like Leaf's; those _freckles;_ her otherwise clear ivory skin. He loved her so much, and looking like this, Ash just wanted nothing more than to kiss Misty senseless.

"I…" he scratched his head. What if she left him? He'd never love anyone again. For the past two months they'd been on the road together, she'd impacted him in a way that no one, not even Leaf, had.

Misty looked at him impatiently. "Well?"

"…love…" her eyes widened, "…you." Ash breathed before repeating it, albeit more confidently. "I'm in love with you. I love you, Misty."

Ash waited as she let this sink in for a moment. He'd wait for as long as she needed to.

"Ash…" Misty whispered, and a silence ensued for about a minute.

Ash was ready to wait. This moment was crucial. However, when she tried to climb off him, he held her tightly, preventing any escape.

"No, Misty. No running this time. This is something you have to answer now."

"I don't love you," Misty suddenly blurted. When she saw Ash's face, however, she rushed to explain herself.

"No, no, Ash! It's not that I'm not attracted to you at all. Far from that. I like you, Ash. I really, really, really, _really_ like you. Just not to the point that I'm in love with you… I think I'm in the process of doing that." She looked down, her hair shielding her face. "I just haven't reached that stage yet."

Ash understood completely. People took different lengths of time to feel the same way. He kissed her lightly. "I completely understand… I'll just wait until you're ready."

Misty smiled and kissed him once again, deepening it until they were full on making out, and they did this for about a minute.

Ash's hand slid under Misty's tank top.

 _Whrrrrr!_

The two lovers ignored this, however, and continued. By the time they pulled away, they saw that the barrier had dissolved, and a crowd of people had gathered, watching them make out.

Misty tried first. "Um…" she coughed.

"Imagine! The nerve!" An old man came up to them, thwacking Ash on the head. "You! Trying to take advantage of such a lovely young lady!" He peered at Misty. "Say… aren't you a Gym Leader somewhere? And… you." He swung his stick at Ash. "You're the—!"

"Bye!" Ash yelled, taking Misty's hand and pulling her away. "Mist, we need to go find our Pokemon."

"I know, Ash. Just… where?" She followed the direction his finger was pointing to, and she gulped.

"Of course. Radio Tower."

 **Gary**

A nudging in my side. What was this? At least I'd come to.

Cracking open my eyelids, I was met with a very worried Dragonair. Wait… wasn't that the Dratini I'd gotten for Leaf?

Leaf! I sat up quickly.

I pointed at the Pokemon. "Aren't you Leaf's Dratini?"

"Dragonair! Ara!" It wrapped its tail around my arm, pulling me somewhere. I looked back. Sabrina was safe there, at least Trinome was nowhere to be found.

I was a little unsteady on my feet at first, until we rounded a bend.

"Tell me, what is so urgent? Am I… whoa."

We stopped in front of a girl clad in green. Normally, I would say she's hot and start scoping her, but I had a girlfriend now.

When I walked to her other side, however…

"Holy shit."

This girl was bleeding profusely from the side of her stomach. Her long brown hair was covering her face, and I started putting the pieces together. If this was Leaf's Dragonair…

I felt a little sick to my stomach, as I moved the unconscious girl's hair away from her face. Please don't be… please don't be…

My fears were confirmed as I recognized the lovely face I'd grown so fond of.

 _Leaf._

 **So there's your thirteenth chapter. You're welcome.**

 **-Dinah**


	14. Chapter 14

**And on with chapter 14.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon.**

 **-** _ **The PokéWorld Trials-**_

 **Gary**

I couldn't breathe. I _couldn't_ breathe. At least, in the metaphorical sense…

That was all I could think as I gazed at the girl of my dreams, having her heart pumped for her and air breathed in for her. She looked painfully pale… like there was no life left in her.

 _There might not be…_

How could I let this happen to her? I knew it. I shouldn't have let her go by herself to fight that monster. I should have known, I should have… Heck, I shouldn't even have let her out of my sight in the first place.

The bullet wound was now bandaged up, but I remembered how it had looked. Raw and red, gashed and nasty. All because of me.

I couldn't stay in this room. I couldn't stay with her, knowing that I had failed her. I'd promised to her, and to myself, to always protect her with everything in me.

She was so strong, so beautiful, so courageous, so perfect. Painfully perfect. So how could someone like me be with someone like her? I wasn't even good enough to be in the same room as her.

"Maybe I need to go," I mumbled to myself. Yes. It was time to do a little soul searching. I needed to train more, return to the gym. Get my old, monotonous life back. I preferred my timeline with Leaf, as short as it was… no. we'd been best friends our whole lives, but I wish I could have loved her more than I had in the short time we'd been together.

Two days. Two freaking days with me, and that was all it took to knock her into a coma? I wasn't good for her.

So, very hesitantly, I placed my lips on hers for the last time. I knew it would break her to wake up and see me gone, but this was for the best. I was only doing this because I care so much about her.

Squeezing her cold hand, I released it and walked out the door.

 **-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-**

I couldn't even properly describe how I was feeling. I felt empty already. There was no denying that I needed Leaf to be happy, but she didn't need me.

I felt Blastoise shake in his ball, and I had to assure him everything was okay.

"Excuse me."

Who was this now? I looked up, coming eye to eye with a… man? He seemed to be dressed in school uniform, and looked to be about twenty three or twenty four. His eyes were a piercing grey, and he had dirty blond, carefully styled hair. He looked familiar, for some reason.

"Hey," I croaked out.

"I'm sorry, but do you know where Leaf's room is?"

I eyed this guy. Who was he? And what did he want with Leaf?

"And who, may I ask, are you?"

"I could ask you the same question. You're the one leaving that door, right?"

I sighed. "Fine. I'm Gary. I…" I decided not to mention that I was Leaf's boyfriend.

After all, I wasn't, was I?

"Gary." He seemed amused for some reason. "The name's Darcy. I'm Leaf's cousin."

I rubbed my chin. "Come to think of it, I had heard something about Leaf having a cousin." This was probably him.

"That way." I pointed to her door.

"Thanks."

I watched him walk away. I knew I wasn't supposed to, and there was something quite fishy about him, but I couldn't decide for Leaf whether to see him or not.

I headed for the exit with a heavy heart. As soon as I stepped out into Saffron, I happened to come across Ash and Misty.

Ash beamed at me, and Misty sent me an easy going smile.

"Gary!" He came up to me and had me in a headlock. "What's up?" After he noticed my demeanor, though, he released me.

"Hey, what's wrong?" he looked around, suddenly confused. "And where's my little sis?"

I gulped, sniffing, before responding. "Leaf… Leaf got shot."

Ash's eyes grew wider than saucers, and I could feel the emotion coming over him. I perfectly understood if he was mad at me. "WHAT?! So where is she?" He shoved me, suddenly angry. "And why are you out here? Shouldn't you be with her?"

I rubbed my head half-heartedly. "She's in a hospital room." Misty immediately went inside the hospital in a hurry.

"And you left her there because?"

"Oh," I shrugged. "Some guy came and said he was Leaf's cousin, and that he would look after her."

Ash was silent for a long time. When I glanced back to observe his reaction, I noticed that his eyes had turned dark and brooding, and he overall just had a mask of anger.

"Gary," he growled, getting closer to me so that our noses were almost touching. "Tell me what he looked like. _Now._ "

I didn't know why, but I was suddenly afraid of this new Ash, and so decided not to do anything more to anger him. "Uh… he was tall – about my height – dressed in something like a school uniform, was blond, and had grey eyes that kind of creeped me out. But he looked somewhat familiar…"

Ash's expression soured even more, and he grabbed me by my arm.

"ASH! GARY! CO—MMph!" That sounded like Misty. What was going on?

Ash snapped his head toward the voice, and people were already rushing in. He started to drag me into the building. Why was he acting like this? Was there something I didn't know?

"What. Was. His. Name?" he spat menacingly.

I got the sudden feeling that I'd screwed up badly. "He said his name was Daryl or something like that—"

I couldn't finish the sentence, because the next time I opened my eyes, the crowd had created an open space where Ash stood over me with a clenched fist, and I was sprawled on the floor clutching my newly bruised jaw.

Damn, Ash can sure pack a punch…

"Do you have any idea what you've _done?!"_ he screamed at me. I felt guilty and scared and sad and frustrated and angry and whatever. WHAT did I do?

He didn't say anything more, ran to the counter, spoke briefly to the lady, and then sprinted in the direction of Leaf's room.

A lady came and helped me up… actually, she seemed about my or Misty's age. She had long, flowing blonde hair and golden eyes, and was tall and pretty.

But I didn't have time for this.

"Uh, thanks," I panted before taking off after Ash, almost catching up to him.

"Sure!" she called. "I'm Amber!"

As Ash and I turned the corner, I noticed that Leaf's door was ajar, and there was screaming and yelling coming from there. By the time we entered, I caught sight of Leaf… awake, but sporting a ripped hospital dress and clutching the bedsheets to herself while sobbing. My vision shifted to the right, and I saw that Dole guy from earlier, attempting to rip off Misty's shorts. Her shirt had been discarded already, and she was left in her blue cami; she was passed out.

He grabbed her hands and forcefully pinned them to the wall, and when I blinked, he was on the floor, choking and gasping for air as Ash pummeled the living daylight out of Dane.

By now, I was beyond confused.

I looked at Leaf, observing her. She seemed very shaken up, and was trembling terribly all over. My heart sped up when she came over to me, covering herself with the bedsheet.

"Leaf…" I touched her cheek. At least I could have this final moment with her. "What happened?"

She was still sobbing terribly, clutching onto me, and I just had to hold her close.

She finally spoke up.

"Darcy… he… he was about to…" she gazed up at me with tear-filled eyes. I didn't need any other explanation.

He would've raped her if there hadn't been an intervention.

 **I am so sorry for this super short chapter and the crappy ending and the bad chapter in general, but I was running out of ideas and just had to put up something. Fair warning, it may or may not take me an eternity to upload again. I need to come up with some good stuff for the next chapter, and I promise it will be better than this one.**

 **Please bear with me! And I'm very very very very very sorry for the lame ending.**

 **Bye! – Dinah XOXO**


	15. This is Goodbye, Readers -Important note

**Um, guys? I have an important announcement.**

 **Since I haven't been able to update frequently, I'm deciding to change the update period to once every two or three months. BUT this will only happen later on. Yup.**

 **I'm going to be taking a break from for a while… about one or two years, due to the fact that my external examinations to get into college are coming up. I'm in my junior year in high school currently, and I've got a series of exams for the next year, and I need to study really hard to pass them. So until I gain admission into my school next year September, I can't update my stories at all. Yes, my** _ **stories**_ **, because I also have one on my alternate account, Skylarrrrrr. I'll just post the finished second chapter now, and then all stories are on hiatus. I may still use FanFiction, but only for reading, not writing.**

 **Don't worry, guys. I'll be back by latest 2021, when I'll be 18 and my life will be relaxed again, and earliest 2019 June. I may post frequent status updates on my profile, too, so you all know what I'm up to. Remember, this is not the end; simply a year-long hiatus. So when I'm back, the new update period will come into play.**

 **See you then, my lovelies.**

 **Dinah XOXO**


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